A Boy's Shadow
by BlueFireIce
Summary: A woman comes to the office telling about a dark spirit that lives in her son's bedroom. The group goes to exorcise the spirit and Mai becomes possessed with only Lin to help. Will this bring the two together or will it just like any other case? Rating is subject to change
1. The Case

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or the characters in it**

_Mai's POV_

I had been at odds with myself for quite some time. I wanted to move past Naru because it seemed he continued to show little interest in me. I wasn't sure how to go about that though, considering I had liked, maybe even loved him for quite some time. The others, even Lin, supported my liking of my boss. Well…all of the others except Masako but he showed little interest in her too. Sometimes it made me wonder if it was possible for him to notice any girls or only himself in a mirror.

I stood up as I heard the main office door beginning to open. A woman, probably in her late twenties or early thirties, had stepped in the door. Her hair, a light brown with natural highlights, was disheveled and her clothing looked as if it were quickly thrown together. Her eyes had dark circles under them and she seemed on edge, scared even. I walked over with a bright smile toward her. Gently placing my hand on her back I lead her to my desk, being careful with her in worry she might just break over one thing.

"Hello, I'm Mai Taniyama, how may I help you today?" Concern etched my voice as she pulled out some photos. I made sure my notepad was handy and I turned on a recorder. After the many years I had spent here, I learned a new system of interviewing people. It helped incase I missed important information.

"Hello, I'm Akameko Nimahara and I believe a spirit, a malevolent one, is haunting my son's bedroom. He will run to my room a lot and say that 'the lady' is in his room again and is scaring him. Well at first I thought maybe it was his imagination until I got these pictures." The woman first showed me a photo of her son's back, scratched all over it. Then there was a photo that had been taken in a hallway. Inside of one of the bedrooms there was a shadowy figure that appeared to be hiding. The next photo was of her taking a picture of her son playing with his toys in his bedroom. He was laughing while looking at the camera but a shadowy, very transparent figure was shrouding him in the photo. The last photo was of her son's bed.

"There's an indent in the bed as if someone is sitting in it. I just got that bed for him a month ago so the indents that can come naturally to beds shouldn't be there that early." She explained to me. I nodded my head and took down some notes. "Also the door to his room will close randomly. I've had a carpenter check it out and he told me that the door and floor were just fine and that the windows closed great so it wasn't wind."

"Nimahara-san, would you mind waiting here for a moment while I go and ask about this case with my boss?" I asked her. She nodded her head and I got up and started toward Naru's office. Gently a hand stopped me. I looked to see it was Lin and he grabbed my notes and read over them.

"You're getting better at this." Lin had helped me with my new system and gave me tips here and there. I smiled at him and took my notes to go and show them to Naru. A gentle knock and the words 'come in' had me explaining the case to my boss.

"I really think we should take this case. It's harming someone now, someone innocent, and seems pretty serious." I explained. He nodded his head as he looked over the photos and my notes.

"Tell her to come in here." Naru said and I walked out of his office and to my desk.

"Nimahara-san, would you please follow me?" I asked her gently and she gathered her things and followed me into Naru's office. I could hear Lin typing away at his computer. I always wondered what he was constantly doing at the computer.

I stood near the door as the client explained, over again, to Naru what was happening at her home. Then she proceeded to give her address. It was silent for a while as Naru looked over the pictures once again. The one that had me the most disturbed were the claw marks all over the boy's back. I just didn't understand why a spirit would want to harm a child. Even the Doll House case was very disturbing. I get missing your child but I didn't understand why you would harm other children in the process.

"Do you need my son to be at the house while you're getting the spirit out?" Akameko's voice was nervous and worried but she was trying to look strong.

"Does the activity cease while he is away?" Naru asked and the woman nodded her head. "Then we will need him to be in your home while we are working or getting the spirit could be much more difficult."

"Thank you so much Shibuya-san. I appreciate you taking the time for me." Akameko bowed to Naru and then smiled at me. She seemed nervous but I walked her to the door. We said our goodbyes and I told her we would be at her home soon to exorcise the spirit out of her home.

"Do you think we'll need the whole group for this one?" I wondered aloud but noticed Lin nodding his head. I turned to him quizzically. After not receiving an answer from him with my look I walked over to his computer. After the years he and I had turned our lukewarm relationship into a light friendship. I was just glad he didn't hate me like he used to.

"What are you typing about, Lin-san?" I leaned over his shoulder, looking at the bright screen. His typing skills were quite exceptional but I didn't fully understand what he was typing. It was in English but my English was choppy and not very well. I knew the basics that would get me around but not enough to hold up a conversation.

"I'm now typing about our newest case. I overhead both of you and started to put it down." Lin explained. I smiled and leaned away from his computer with a finger to my chin.

"I wonder what this case should be named." I thought aloud. I heard him stop typing and I figured he was thinking about it too.

"What about 'A boy's shadow'?" Lin asked. I gasped with a large smile and nodded my head.

"That sounds like a great name. Wait…do you name all of the cases?" I asked him. There was another pause in his typing and I saw him smirking. He nodded his head and another smile lit my face. It was something new I learned about Lin.

"You're very creative, Lin-San." I patted his shoulder and then headed back to my desk. I heard his typing resume.

_Regular POV_

Mai picked up the phone and started to dial the numbers of Yasuhara, John, Masako, Ayako, and Monk. It didn't take them long to pick up and say that they would be there soon to discuss the case. The brunette gave a sigh of relief and started to relax in her desk chair. The day had been slow up until that point but Naru had Mai putting things up for him and such. She was now a full-time employee. High school had ended only that summer for her and she wanted to stay in the ghost hunting business. Naru told her that he would get her some major training for her abilities when he headed back to England again. It had been awkward when he had come back but they moved over the little bump.

"Mai, tea." She heard her boss say. She laughed lightly but stood up. Even as a full-time employee she still felt like it was back when she was in high school. Mai headed toward the kitchen and started up the tea. It was quickly made and she left it to heat up and went back over to Lin's computer screen.

"You've gotten far in typing about this. How do you already have so much information?" Mai asked while seeing that his documentation was already ten pages long. It didn't surprise her in the least but it was still strange no matter how much he was typing all the time.

"It wasn't difficult. Most of this is background information on the address she is living at. Nothing too substantial has shown up but I'm still searching." Ever since the two's relationship had gotten better he had begun to talk a little more. Not that he had become a chatterbox or anything, just started speaking to her like a friend rather than a co-worker.

"I wonder if it is another mother case like the doll house case was. I sure hope not. Those cases are the worst. They always make me sad." Mai said while waiting to hear the tea go off. The office door opened and in came the entire group except for Yasuhara. It was slightly odd how they almost always managed to show up at roughly the same time. Maybe they called each other and planned it…though that went against Masako's personality.

"Hey guys! I'm making tea right now, would any of you want some?" Mai asked with a bright smile on her face. They all nodded their heads and went to what they had begun to affectionately call 'The Lounge' which irritated Naru to no end because he believed his office to not be a coffee shop. "Lin-san, would you like some as well?"

"Yes, thank you, Mai-chan." Lin called while still typing. It made Mai's cheeks light up with a pale red color. He rarely used her name and even rarer did he put the chan suffix at the end. She quickly went to the kitchen and started getting the cups ready.

"I wonder what that was." Monk whispered Ayako who shrugged her shoulders. Masako giggled slightly and John just tried to not get involved. Suddenly the door opened again and Yasuhara rushed in, fixing his glass as soon as he stopped and shut the door.

"Would you like some tea, Yasuhara-san?" Mai called from the kitchen after the young man apologized for being late. He said yes and then headed to lounge with the others as well. It didn't take long for Mai to come out with a tray full of cups of tea. She went to Naru's office first and gave him tea, informing him that the others had arrived. The look on his face made her giggle and she left his office. It took her little time to hand out the tea to the group. Then she headed over to Lin.

"How's the research going?" Mai asked, noticing his ten pages had developed into fifteen pages.

"Apparently another little boy, forty years ago in the same house, had the same problem. The mother tried to get a priest to exorcise the spirit but he refused once he stepped into the house. Soon after the little boy was found dead in his bed, dark finger marks on his neck. The doctors declared him choked to death. So far that's the most substantial thing I've found." Lin explained. Mai blinked a bit at hearing him speak so long and then she set down his tea.

"Why don't you join us for a little while? You work too hard." Mai suggested. Lin stopped typing and looked at the cup of tea, back at his computer and then down at the keyboard. Gently he moved his chair back and grabbed his cup of tea. Then he looked her in the eyes.

"I think I will join you. Thank you, Mai-chan." Lin said and followed her, not noticing the red tint on her face, into the room with everyone else. They were all very surprised at seeing the quiet man there. Monk and Ayako glanced at each other with confused looks while Masako giggled lightly behind her sleeve. John just smiled politely at the man, trying to ignore the rest of the members.

**Author's Note:** Thank you all for reading this chapter. I will try to update as soon as possible but I was afraid if I didn't end it here I wouldn't end it at all. I will continue to develop the relationship between Mai and Lin but I feel that it was quite a development this chapter. Once again, thank you for reading.


	2. Getting Home Safe

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or the characters**

Mai stretched in her chair, letting out a large yawn. The moon had risen and she was finishing up her paperwork. Her hand rubbed her eye as she blinked heavily. The room was slightly cold, making the young woman shiver. Glancing up at the clock that read 9:12 pm, she groaned at the work she had left. It wasn't that there was a lot of it, it was just boring. She had been there since eight that morning.

"I'm going home, now. I'll finish this last bit of work early in the morning." Mai said loud enough for Naru to hear. She, Lin, and Naru always met at the office early in the morning before a case so that they could make sure they had all of the equipment. Then they would head off to the clients address.

Mai stood and started to gather her things up so that she could head home. Suddenly beside her was Lin, looking over the small bit of work she had left. It was just common paperwork over their last case but it was clear how tired she was. The quiet man took the paper work over to his computer and set it down beside his keyboard. The brunette blinked a few times, not comprehending what happened.

"You don't have to work late to finish my paperwork, Lin-san. I can come in a little bit early to do it." Mai blushed while explaining it to him. He turned to her, a slight smile on his face.

"It's no problem." Lin stated.

"Would you like me to make some tea before I leave so that you two can stay up if you need to?" Mai asked, hoping to make it up to the Chinese man.

"I would like that, thank you Mai-chan." Lin smiled at her. Mai bowed so that he wouldn't see her bright cheeks and hurried off to the kitchen and started up the tea. But Lin wasn't a stupid man; he knew what he was doing. He had also seen her cheeks but knew not to embarrass the girl any further.

Mai was quickly back with the tea. She went to Naru's office first and gave him the tea (to which he still did not thank her for) then she went over to Lin's computer and set his tea down. He was already sitting again, his fingers speeding on the keyboard. His documentation was now at twenty pages and Mai was impressed with his quick research.

"Have you found anything new?" Mai pulled up a chair and sat down next to his computer. Lin took a sip of his tea and paused his typing to turn to the girl.

"Yes, I found out that an older sibling, a teenage girl, murdered her younger brother by choking him to death. She was a middle child and her mother has picked a favorite and I'm sure you can guess who it was. At first she would scare him, coming into his room at night. Then she started to physically harm him, scratching his arms, legs, and back. One time it got so bad on his back that he had to lie on his stomach for a week because it was too painful to lie on his back. Then she choked him to death. The mother accounted all this in a local newspaper back in 1874." Lin explained to Mai. The brunette looked disturbed and distraught.

"I understand not being picked as a favorite but it seems like she must have had mental problems for blaming it on the brother and not her mom." Mai said. Lin nodded his head to her statement.

"Yes, the law filed her into an institution where she died half a year later. Apparently her mother had visited her only once to tell her she was disowned from the family. Then the girl had overdosed by taking the meds from the other patients who had hidden their meds." The black-haired man said. It was quiet for a bit, Mai taking in all the new information.

"Do you have her name? Do you have the younger boy's name?" Her question came quick and Lin looked back over his notes.

"Her name was Ishiko Iwa and her brother's name was Akio Iwa. Her name means Child of stone and Akio means bright boy. Their last name means rock." He stated and then nodded his head, taking another sip of his tea.

"How much more information do you need to get?" Mai asked and he shrugged his shoulders.

"I think that's all there is to get on this case." Lin said. He pressed print and the printer came to life with all of its new mechanical sounds. The old one had died last year, groaning and clanking and eating all the paper. It frustrated anyone who had come into the place and Lin finally gave in and got a new one. It wasn't that the man was averse to new technology, by no means was he, but he didn't like shopping and Mai had too much busy work and it was pointless to ask Naru. He wouldn't really respond to the request, no matter who was asking.

"I'll be right back." He stated and headed into Naru's office. Mai listened to their soft voice and her eyes began to blink heavily again. Soon she rested her head on her arms and her eyes blinked closed.

Lin came out a couple of minutes later to find Mai asleep at the side of his desk. Her hair would flutter a little bit every time she let out a breath. Her body looked limp and relaxed. A smile was visible on the man's lips as he walked over to his computer and shut it off. Then he put up the cup of tea she had given him and went back over to her.

"Mai-chan, you should head home." Lin gently shook her shoulder and the young woman blinked awake.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to fall asleep at your desk." She sweat dropped while apologizing and grabbed her bag of things. Mai started toward the door but Lin stopped her with a gentle grasp of the wrist.

"Do you need a ride home?" Lin asked her. A bright smile lit her face and she nodded.

"Thank you Lin-san, I would love a ride home."

_Lin's POV_

I grabbed my keys and put on my coat. Then she and I were headed to my car that was parked close by. Naru knew we were leaving since I told him when I handed in my information of our new case. He told me it was fine and that he would be leaving soon after. Our walk to my car was silent but it wasn't awkward. We got in and started off toward her home. I knew of where she lived since it was my job to know about everyone who worked at the small office.

"It feels so nice outside." Mai noted while looking up at the moon and stars. I looked up as well, smiling lightly at the sight. She was right though, the night felt nice. It was warm but not humid and looked calm. The night air blew gently around us, both of our hair fluttering lightly. I unlocked the doors to my car and held open the door for her. I may have been a quiet man but that didn't mean I wasn't a gentleman.

"Thank you, Lin-san." She smiled up at me and I nodded my head, returning a small smile. Even if my physical body didn't show it, her smile made me happy. Like most of the group thought, she held us all together. Her strength and endurance held us together like glue. Otherwise the fights between Ayako and Monk would turn into more than playful fighting. Masako would probably be more sullen than we've found her to be. John wouldn't have felt as welcome with feeling like a child having Ayako and Monk laugh at him. Naru, while he could work without her, had even made an emotional difference. I saw him smile a few times here and there which is a lot more than I have seen in years. She's like the air we breathe. All of us need her now that we have her and without her we would slowly fall into the background of the world.

As for me, she changed me in ways I couldn't imagine. Long before I knew of the outside world, Gene and Oliver were all I knew. They were my best friends. Then Gene left and things changed drastically. Naru became obsessed with psychic research even more than before and I followed him in silence. He was all I knew then and now I have learned so much more from Mai. I learned how to smile again. The first time I had started to it felt…different but right.

"How do you know where I live?" Mai asked, her voice filled with the want of sleep.

"I know where everyone who works for us lives." I explained. I glanced over at her to find her eyes were fighting to keep open. It had been a long day at the office for her. Not for me because I was used to those hours but I knew she had worked hard lately, making sure everything was kept in check. No one was sure why she had suddenly started working so hard but no one asked.

It didn't take long to get to her apartment and I stopped the car. I looked over at her and noticed Mai's head was resting at an angle while her breathing had become even in a way that only sleep can provide. A smile filled my face but I knew we couldn't sit in my car forever. So I gently placed a hand on her shoulder and lightly shook her awake. Her eyes blinked open slowly and she seemed disoriented for a moment.

"We're at your apartment." I quietly told her. She nodded slightly and stretched out in the front seat. Then with a small yawn to the back of her hand, she gathered her things and opened the door. I turned off the car and stepped out as well to walk her to her apartment. Her head was slightly toward the ground as she walked and her step was slow, indicating how tired she really was.

Her apartment was on the second floor and I helped her up the stairs with a gentle hand on the middle of her back. I was afraid she would fall down the stairs if I didn't support her up them. We slowly made it to her door and she started to fumble through her bag for her purse. It took a few minutes but I finally heard the quiet jingle of keys and she pulled them out but her bleary eyes wouldn't allow her to find the key that was her house key.

"What does the key look like?" I asked as I gently pulled the keys away from her and she leaned against the wall, eyes closed and looking very tired.

"It's silver with three holes in the top part. It hangs beside a very small mailbox key and a very large chest key." Mai explained. I nodded my head and found the door key and put it in the handle and opened the door for her. Mai pushed herself off of the wall and slowly made it into her apartment. She set her things down and turned to me.

"Thank you for driving me home, Lin-san." Her smile, though weak with sleepiness, was happy and grateful.

"You're welcome." I paused, thinking of my next statement and if it should be said. She seemed to realize I was thinking and waited. "The next time you need a ride…you can just ask."

"Thank you again, Lin-san. I really do appreciate it." Mai bowed slightly to me and I did a small bow back. "Goodnight and sleep well."

"You as well, Mai-chan." I told her and the blush appeared again. She waited until I had gotten to the stairs before shutting her door. I would probably sleep well knowing that she was okay so I made my way down to my car and headed home.

**Author's Note: Sorry it took me a while to update but I had gotten stuck at one part in this story. I pushed past it (clearly) and so I hope you enjoyed this chapter. **


	3. Visions of the Past

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or its characters**

Mai stretched and looked at the clock, noticing it was early in the morning. The sun was just beginning to rise. She felt refreshed and filled with energy. The young woman got up from her bed and shuffled her way to her dresser. It took a while but the brunette found some shorts to wear, a pink and light green t-shirt and some white tennis shoes. She made her way into the bathroom, clothes draped over her arm and she set them on the counter.

Mai striped herself of her night wear and hopped into the shower. The shower was only about ten minutes long and she was out and had scrubbed her hair dry and was drying her body. Then she put on her clothes and started to brush her hair. The young woman could only hope the weather outside was as nice as it was last night. Mai blushed at the memory of last night and falling asleep at Lin's desk and in his car. He even helped her up the stairs.

"Should…should I ask him for a ride home again?" She asked herself quietly. The young brunette had no answer for herself. They would be on a case today so they would probably be at the client's house for a while. The reminded her of that poor woman whose son had been attacked by a ghost.

"I'm just glad this woman got help unlike the last one." Mai nodded her head and finished brushing her hair. Then she went into her bedroom to gather all the things she would need together.

_Mai's POV_

There was a knock at the door and I turned my head from my bedroom to look at what (though I couldn't see it) knew was the front door. I set the things in my hands down and slowly made my way over to it. I was a little short to look through the peephole so I put on the latch and opened it a crack to see Lin's face. He was standing there patiently waiting for me to answer the door. I closed it and then pulled off the latch only to open it again.

"May I help you, Lin-san?" I asked him gently. He looked abashed for a moment and then smiled very lightly.

"I thought you might need a ride to work today. The weather has gotten rather heated." The tall, dark haired man explained. A bright smile lit my face and I nodded my head.

"I'll go get my things and be right back." I hurried to my bedroom and grabbed the items I knew I would need. Then I hurried to my front door again and stepped out, locking it behind me. "Thank you so much, Lin-san."

The Chinese man nodded his head to affirm his welcome to me. I smiled and my step had a light skip to it the whole way to his car. I wasn't sure why it made me giddy to know that Lin was thinking about me but it made the butterflies in my stomach flutter. Maybe it was because someone was caring about me again. I hadn't felt that in years from someone older than me. Ayako was like my mother but heaven no was Lin like a father to me…that would be one scary father. Who knew quite the reason I felt like that but all I knew was it made my day that much better.

Lin held open the door for me again and I thanked him. He was quite the gentleman but I supposed not many people knew that because they were all intimidated by him but after spending enough time with him the face of irritation he put on was just that, a face. He could be a nice guy but he said he had a vendetta against the Japanese. But I'm not included in that vendetta anymore!

"I finished your paperwork from last night." Lin stated while driving.

"Thank you for that, Lin-san. I really do appreciate it. I guess I was just very tired last night. I hadn't ever worked that long before." I thanked the older man and he nodded his head.

"Why have you been working so hard?" Lin asked me. I gasped quietly. I hadn't thought anyone had noticed my new and strange fascination with working. I sighed and looked out the window.

"I'm not sure quite my reasoning but I guess it was to help me forget about Naru-chan. But that doesn't make much sense considering he's my boss." I laughed but it was forced. I hated the subject of Naru and my feelings for him. "But it did help a little to forget until I had to do more things for him. But I'll be fine."

Lin didn't say anything to me for a moment. I was worried he had seen through my fake tone. He was a very insightful man even if he was quiet all the time. So I waited with baited breath as his silence continued. Finally I saw him open his mouth slightly so I figured he was going to speak. A sigh came out.

"Don't lie…it's not becoming of you." Those were the quiet words that escaped his mouth. A blush spread across my face. He had caught me…not that I was too surprised.

"I…I wasn't lying." I stuttered and he gave me a look that said he thought otherwise. I sighed and looked away and out the window. "Does he even like me, Lin-san? Has he showed any signs of liking me? Does he like Masako? Please tell me the truth."

"I wouldn't lie…it's not becoming of me, either. But he doesn't have feelings like that for anyone. Ever since Gene…" He never finished his sentence though I knew what had happened to Gene. I nodded my head but had pretty much already known the truth.

"Should I move on from him?" I wanted an earnest answer. I knew Lin would give me one.

"Yes, you should." His answer was very blunt and straightforward. I nodded my head again. I had known that I should have moved on from him a long time ago.

"Thank you for telling me the truth, Lin-san." I murmured quietly and continued to look through the window. We had reached the office and I stepped out with all my things. Lin shut and locked the doors. Silently we walked into the office, noticing that Naru had already arrived. Things were put together quickly and we got into the van that held our equipment and headed off to Akameko's house. Lin was the one driving.

Naru sat in the front seat with Lin and I sat in the back looking out the window. Lin was probably very right about me and moving on. I knew I should considering that Naru rarely showed me kindness and after the episode right before he went off to England my mind wasn't so sure it should trust the man with my heart. Sadly my heart knew little logic and followed where it wanted to go. But I was starting to see just how little kindness the older man had shown me since coming back than before.

Naru, or should I say Oliver Davis, had consistently been distant and cold toward me since he had come back from England. I nodded my head, affirming that I should move on from the man. So I looked out the window and sighed while watching the neighborhood fly by us. I was slightly excited to see Akameko again. I really wanted to help the distraught woman.

Her house was rather large. It had two stories and a large front yard. There was a bay window by her front door and it had a separate garage area. The outer walls were a soft white color and the bay window had light pink curtains in it. Her garden wasn't too large but was beautiful in a multiple color way. The grass was a beautiful green and there was a large, shady tree right in the middle of her front yard.

"Wow…" I breathed out, "This place is beautiful." I made my way out of the car and followed behind Lin and Naru while continuing to look at the beauty of her house. They rang to door bell and I waited while continuing to glance about. I heard the door open and I turned to see Akameko-san standing there, her hair brushed and wearing less disorganized clothing. She even looked like she had gotten some sleep the night before which I was glad about.

"Hello and thank you for coming." She said and opened the door wider for us to come in. I smiled at her on my way in and she smiled lightly back.

"You have a beautiful home, Nimahara-san." I told her and that seemed to brighten her a little more.

"Thank you very much." She started walking down a hallway that was off to the side "I have a room for you to place all your equipment in. It's the largest empty room I have." The room was pretty large and was very empty. Naru seemed to like that and he nodded his head while looking at it.

"Thank you Nimahara-san." Naru then looked at me for a second and looked back at her. "Would you mind if Mai could go and meet your son?"

"Oh, I wouldn't mind at all." We smiled at each other and I followed her out the door. We headed up the stairs and stopped at a doorway in which I saw her son playing with his toys in there. I walked in and crouched to the young boy's level.

"Hello there, I'm Mai. Might I ask what your name is?" The boy had black hair and these beautiful brown and gold eyes.

"I'm Hiroshi. Do you want to play with me?" Hiroshi looked to be about five or six years old. I sat down with a large smile and he handed me a car and I realized he was sitting on a rug that looked like a little town. There were little cars parked in the tiny parking spaces and some cars were still on the road. There was a little helicopter on the landing pad.

I started to play with Hiroshi. We drove the toy cars around the road, making car wrecks and saving cars. It was actually fun and Akameko said she would go and get everyone some snacks. The young boy was excited to have a friend to play with and I was glad I could play with him. I could hear Akameko making her way back up the stairs. She had a smile on her face and she walked over and set the snacks down. Then she rubbed Hiroshi's hair. Suddenly my vision blurred and I could feel myself falling.

"_Hey sis, what are you doing in here?" I could see a young boy ask from his bed. He was rubbing his eyes from the sleep and I noted it was still dark out. Then I say his sister, or so he called her, standing beside his bed. Her hair was jet black and long. _

"_What's wrong Ishiko?" The young boy was looking worried as his sister continued to stand there. Then her hands shot out and grasped his throat, leaving him no time to make a noise. He struggled against her but was no match because he was too little. Ishiko seemed clam but crazed as she killed her younger brother. It took quite a while to do it but he had finally died and she dropped his body back on the bed, finger shaped bruises encasing his neck. I noticed how much the boy looked like Hiroshi. Suddenly there were footsteps and the door ripped open. An older woman ran to the boy and checked him over. Then she turned to Ishiko and slapped the girl hard across the face, sending the teenager backward some. _

_The mother ran from the room to go get the police and the teenage girl walked back over to the young boy's bed. Suddenly she caressed his cheek gently like a mother would. I didn't understand why she had changed emotions so quickly but she seemed to be grieving over the boy's death while being happy about it as well. _

"_It's alright, Akio, we'll be together again soon. We'll be without momma and we can be like brother and sister should be." A tear dripped down her cheek. "I'm sorry I had to hurt you so much. But momma was hurting me and I had to make sure you wouldn't be without me since I wanted to go. So I had to get you there first."_

Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update! I was having some writer's block and was trying to take it slow with this story. Well here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it.


	4. A few explanations here and there

**Disclaimer: I do now own the character of Ghost Hunt**

_Lin's POV_

Naru and I heard the quiet scream from Nimahara-san and we both hurried up the stairs. When we reached the son's bedroom we saw Mai passed out on the floor and Hiroshi shaking her, hoping to rouse her from her state. Mai gave no response so I hurried down to her and could tell she was still breathing, just out. With gentleness, I lifted her from the floor and looked to Akameko, who seemed frightened and confused.

"She'll be alright, Nimahara-san." Naru voiced and we both walked out the door and to the equipment room. Akameko hurried down the stairs and brought us a blanket and a pillow to place Mai on. Then just as quickly she went back to her son and brought him out of his room, worried that the young woman struck again.

I stared down at Mai for a while, trying to assess if she would come to anytime soon when the door bell rang. Nimahara answered it and in came Monk and Ayako. The hurried to the room and Ayako quickly checked out Mai's health. Monk looked rather worried and I felt useless because all I could do was sit there and watch with baited breath for Mai's bill of health.

"She'll be fine. I'm almost positive she's having one of her physic dreams." Ayako said. I nodded my head and stood up to go and finish some paperwork. I would need to document Mai's episode and when she came to I would need to have her tell me what she saw. But just as I reached my seat, we all heard a light groan. I hurried back to her side; ignoring the strange looks Monk and Ayako were giving me. Mai slowly sat up from her lying position and blinked a bit.

"Did you have a dream?" Ayako gently asked and Mai nodded her head, making her brunette hair bob a little as she did. "Can you tell us what it was about?"

"I saw how the sister killed her brother. She had choked him and said it was because she couldn't live with how their mother treated him and how she treated her." Then Mai looked to me. "Ishiko loved her brother more than anything, Lin-san. I don't know why she lingers but I know she wasn't sad when she died."

"It seemed you had passed out. Do you have any idea why?" I asked quietly. Mai put a finger to her bottom lip, which jutted out just a hint. It made her look rather cute but I kept my face straight. Her eyes seemed focused on an invisible thing as she concentrated.

"All I remember is that Nimahara-san came in with the cookies and saw us playing." Mai looked at me, an apology in her eyes that she couldn't give more information.

"Did she do anything that might have triggered a response?" I asked and Mai thought once again.

"The last thing I remember was that she rubbed Hiroshi's head and I blacked out. Do you think that has something to do with it?" Mai asked me and I thought for a moment. Then I nodded my head.

"If Ishiko hated that her mother treated her brother better, then seeing Nimahara-san treat Hiroshi like that would be much the same. You and Ishiko were roughly the same age and Hiroshi and her brother were the same age so it would make sense." I explained. The brunette nodded her head and smiled a sad smile. I gave her a slight smile back and went to my computer to document the new information.

_Mai's POV_

Small butterflies fluttered around in my stomach when I saw Lin smile at me. I wasn't sure why that was but I knew it happened. He had seemed so caring of me recently and I wasn't sure why. It wasn't that I was complaining about it, by all means no, but I just was confused. But my attention was taken from my thoughts when Ayako asked a few questions to make sure I wasn't hurt. I hadn't been and I assured the older woman of that.

"Mai, will you come with me for a moment? I need to ask you something." Ayako asked. I nodded my head and lifted myself from the floor. With one glance to Lin, I was out the door. Ayako took me far away from the room and looked me straight in the eye.

"Mai, be honest, do you and Lin have something going on between you two?" Her face was serious and alert. I wasn't sure why she seemed so upset by her question.

"Not that I know of. We are becoming better friends and he's given me rides to work and from work. We talk a lot more but nothing…romantic is going on between us, if that's what you're asking." I explained to Ayako. For some reason, saying that depressed me a small bit but I chalked it up to still be upset over Naru.

"Alright, I'm going to trust you on this." Ayako said; her face still just as serious.

"Why do you ask, Ayako-san?" I asked quietly but she shook her head and we both went back to the main room. Lin looked up briefly and our eyes met for a second. I blushed a little and looked away from him.

"Alright, we're going to start set-up in Hiroshi's room and will film the things that happen tonight. I've already talked to Nimahara-san about having her son sleep in his room and she agreed only as long as there was a constant watch on him. So tonight we all have to be very alert." Naru explained as he started to grab some things, getting ready to start set-up. "There will be two cameras in the son's room. One in the corner, facing the majority of his room and one in the other corner, facing his doorway so we can make sure we have all sides covered."

"Should we put a camera in the hallway facing his bedroom door just in case we don't have a clear view of that part of his room. I'm only saying because of the picture Nimahara-san produced from the hallway." I suggested. Naru thought for a minute and nodded his head. I smiled a little; glad he finally took a suggestion of mine.

Quickly him and I set up the bedroom and did what we needed to do. It wasn't even close to night so I decided to pay Hiroshi another visit. It didn't take long to find him; he was outside with his mother, playing in the grass. I sat down beside Ayameko and watched her son.

"I'm glad you're getting help with this, Nimahara-san." I quietly voiced while the black-haired boy giggled while playing.

"Yes, I am too. I was so scared the first time it happened that I didn't know what to do. But I found an ad of yours in the paper a hurried to make time to visit you. I just hope you can fix whatever is happening in my home." The older lady said. I nodded my head but smiled a bit.

"We'll be able to fix it, I promise." I spoke with confidence and that made Ayameko smile. Quietly we watched her son play while we both thought about many things.


	5. Cursed

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt**

A/N: Hey guys, sorry about the long wait for the recent chapters. I hadn't had any inspiration but now I have a ton. Reading Shades of Lust really pushed me to want to further my story. Also all of your reviews made me so happy ^_^ I'm so glad to see that my readers are still beside me (On many other stories they leave after long updating periods) and I'm glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter. And now, here's the next.

"Taniyama-san, are you feeling better from when you fainted?" Nimahara asked me. My legs were quietly kicked back and forth while hanging off the patio. I turned and flashed a bright smile her way.

"I'm feeling much better, Nimahara-san. Thank you for asking." We both smiled some more when we heard Hiroshi giggle again. He was building something out of mud and had found a small worm. He gently moved the worm over, so as not to hurt it, and continued with his play. "You have a very beautiful son."

"His looks are taken from his father." Akameko smiled briefly.

"I hope I don't sound imposing when I ask this, but what happened to your husband?" My question was quiet, hoping I hadn't insulted her.

"It's alright, I don't mind answering. My husband had died a few years after Hiroshi's birth. He delivered things to many companies and one night the road was slippery and his truck flipped…" She didn't continue but I could guess what had happened next. "Hiroshi and I get along fine but I do miss him sometimes."

"So what do you do for a living, Nimahara-san?"

"Besides caring for Hiroshi?" Her and I both laughed at the implication, "I'm a nurse at the local children's hospital. It's great because they let me bring in Hiroshi to play with the children so that they don't feel as lonely. Everyone loves him there."

"You seem to be happy about that." I smiled when she nodded her head. We both turned silent again and watched the black haired boy play about in the dirt and mud. He had the mess all in his hair and on his clothing but he was having fun, like a young boy should.

"I hate to bother you Nimahara-san…" Both Akameko and I turned our heads to find John standing at the back door. "But Shibuya-san wishes to have Mai back at base." John walked over to the older woman and held out his hand. "I'm John Brown."

"It's very nice to meet you Brown-san." She shook his hand and smiled at us both as we walked back into the house.

"When did you get here, John?" I asked.

"Oh, just a moment ago. Naru is irritated since there isn't much to do and says that he wants us all at base, working." John explained. I growled lightly and shook my head.

"Stupid workaholic. He never can give it a rest, can he?" I asked, only to receive John's shrugging shoulders as an answer. With a sigh, I stepped back into the room. Now it felt cramped. Everyone, except Masako, was there. I didn't bother to ask why the girl attended but instead surveyed the room. Yasuhara was on his laptop, occasionally adjusting his glasses, probably looking up information. John and Monk were both just quietly talking while Ayako was making charms. Naru was reading through Lin's long report and Lin was on his computer…typing something again. As I glanced at him, he looked up at me. I smiled at him and he slightly smiled back.

I walked over to Ayako and sat down beside her. She glanced at me with a questioning look before going back to her charm making. I was still wondering why she wanted to know about me and Lin. She had seemed so serious about it, and while she was like my older sister, it had felt something about the thought of Lin and me together bothered her.

"Ayako…" I started quietly, hoping no one was listening in. There were a lot of technical noises going on, so I could only hope that my voice was lower than that.

"Yes, Mai?" She whispered back, focused on the charms.

"Why were you so worried about…what you asked me in the hallway?" I didn't want to say what she had asked, just in case any of them were listening in. She set down her charms and looked at me, serious again. The priestess stood up, motioning for me to come with her. The others watched our departure with confused eyes.

"Didn't I just tell them to all stay in here?" I heard Naru ask in an irritated voice before we left. Ayako led us to the stairs and sat down on the third step. I sat beside the older woman and waited.

"Mai, Lin is a very quiet man." Ayako started. I nodded my head and she sighed. "And he's a little strange. I've always gotten that vibe from him."

"But he's very nice, Ayako." I wanted to defend Lin from the accusation but I also didn't want to insult Ayako.

"I'm sure he is…but…well Mai, you're just out of high school." I nodded my head, confirming her statement. "Lin is … well I'm not sure of his age but he's much older than you, Mai."

"By probably no more than six years, Ayako." I wondered how old the quiet man really was but Ayako snapped me back from my thoughts.

"I just want you to be careful." She was about to get up but I held her hand for a second.

"Why did you think him and I were together?" The priestess gave me a look that clearly said _'you don't know?'_

"Um…Mai…haven't you noticed that he's been really friendly with you lately?" Ayako's eyebrow was raised toward me.

"Well yeah, but that's because we're friends." I explained, confused as to what she meant.

"That's not what I meant, Mai." Her voice had deadpanned along with her look. I tilted my head to the side in confusion but she just shook her head.

"Just be careful Mai." Ayako warned me as she stood up and walked away. I watched her go into the room and I sighed but stood up, stretching my back with a smile. Then I glanced up the stairs, just barely being able to see into Hiroshi's room. It seemed as if something was in there, hovering. I continued to stare and suddenly the hovering thing took on the face of a girl and I could almost make out eyes, staring back at me. I could feel my body go cold as the dark eyes looked back at me.

"Mai…" I jumped. I was slightly shivering from the fear when I turned to see Lin looking at me, worry on his face. "Are you alright?"

I glanced back up the steps to see that the figure was gone completely from the young boy's room. It had felt so angry and sad but I turned and nodded my head to him. He glanced up the stairs and then looked back at me.

"Did you see something, Mai?" The dark haired man asked me slowly. I nodded my head, slowly my heart to a healthy rate.

"It was a dark, hovering figure. I watched it and soon I could make out the face of a girl and I could see its eyes staring right back at me…and it was so…angry and sad." I explained, starting to shake again thinking about it. I felt Lin place a reassuring hand on my shoulder, but warily looking back up the stairs.

"I think we should tell the group." He suggested and I nodded my head. Keeping his hand on my shoulder, we walked back into the room. Everyone looked at us and then zeroed in on Lin's hand, confused.

"Mai saw something in Hiroshi's room." Lin explained. He let go of my shoulder and I re-told them what it was I had seen. Quickly Naru went to the videos to look but saw nothing on them.

"Are you positive you saw it?" He asked me and I nodded my head. "What was the color of it?"

"It was a transparent purple; A very dark purple." I answered. He nodded his head but didn't look too assured.

"Should it not have been purple, Naru?" Monk asked him but there came no answer from the narcissist.

"Most spirits who haven't moved on are either a black transparent color or some form of gray. Purple spirits are mostly associated with curses." Lin explained. I didn't understand why a curse would be put on this house, but now our case was looking to be just a bit more serious.

A/N: Alright, there's the next chapter ^_^ Oh and it would help me so much if you guys could tell me what age Lin might be. I looked around on the internet but I seriously cannot find out. Thank you so much for reading thus far!


	6. Imagined Worries come true

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt**

"Well…that makes things more interesting." Monk spoke out loud but his tone lacked it normal humor. Everyone looked at me except for Naru, which made me slightly confused.

"What's wrong?" I asked but their faces looked a little worried.

"Well…Lin said you were close to the age of Ishiko…and you are prone to getting in trouble in these cases." Monk explained. I stared at them, worry filling my face. I didn't want to be kicked off the case.

"Well it's settled then. Someone will have to stay with Mai at all times." Ayako voiced. I gave her a look of gratitude. She smiled at me and then we all lapsed into silence. No one knew who would be staying with me at all times.

"How about we take turns?" John suggested and I nodded my head. "Who will go first?"

"I can." Monk said and I smiled at him.

"How about, since it's nearing dusk, I do it?" Ayako suggested. It was quickly settled that Ayako would stay with me during the night and if I had to go anywhere, someone would follow with me to make sure things went smoothly.

"Mai…" Naru called out and I turned to him. "It seems that Hiroshi has taken a liking to you, which means Ishiko knows this. We're going to watch and see what happens but you may need to be the way we bring her out. Are you sure you want to be on this case?"

I thought about it. This case seemed to be dangerous and Naru was only so serious because he knew harm might come if I continued on the case. But I couldn't allow this young woman's curse to cause harm to Hiroshi any longer. I nodded my head, completely serious.

"You don't have to do it. You're not being held against your will." Monk voiced.

"I know I don't have to but I want to. Hiroshi doesn't deserve to be hurt because of a curse made a long time ago and I refuse to ignore the harm that has been put on him. I can take it better than a young child and I would rather it be me that takes the hits than him." I explained. Monk nodded his head to my answer and the room's seriousness was thick and had settled into a sad silence. We all knew that a young boy was being harmed and we couldn't tell what to do about it.

"We'll watch the videos tonight and hope something comes up." Naru said. Lin walked over to the screens and sat down, Naru walked off to look at some papers, and everyone else just shuffled about while being silent. I wasn't sure what to do, so I went and sat near Lin, watching the screens as well.

"Do you think something will turn up?" I asked him quietly. He shook his head. We both quietly watched a hesitant Akameko place her sleepy son in bed. She hovered over his bed, reading him a book, and giving him a bunch of good night kisses. Finally she left the room when she made sure he was fully asleep. She flipped off the lights and looked around the room with worried eyes.

"I feel so bad for Nimahara-san. She must be worried sick about leaving him in that room." I whispered sadly. She was such a nice woman and her son was so sweet.

"She shouldn't worry…" Lin spoke. I turned to him confused.

"Why not?"

"Well we're here for a reason, aren't we?" A slightly teasing smile was on his face and I flushed in embarrassment of not realizing what he meant. He gave a quiet chuckle and I gave a playful glare. We watched the screen once again and luckily nothing was happening at the moment.

"Lin-san…"

"You can call me Lin, Mai. But yes?" Lin looked at me, worry in his eyes.

"When Naru said I would probably be bait…what would I have to do?" My voice was very quiet, worried even, but whatever it was that I would have to do, I would do it for Hiroshi.

"More than likely just spend time with Hiroshi but…" Lin paused and sighed, "If worse comes to worse, you may end up being possessed. Mai, you don't have to be on this case."

"I want to be though." Lin nodded his head at me. "Would you like help watching the screens?"

"If you want to help, then you're more than welcome to." Lin said. I smiled up at him and we both looked at the screen. I gave a quiet yawn and blinked at the screen heavily. I rested my chin in my hands and closed my eyes, suddenly very tired.

"Mai…" I heard Lin call out to me but I couldn't respond and the last thing I felt was my head falling toward the desk.

_Lin's POV_

"Naru!" I called quickly and he headed over. We looked at the screen to see a dark mass standing near the doorway of Hiroshi's room. I looked back at Mai and her body was completely limp. I lifted her from the chair and laid her on the make shift bed she had been on only a while ago. Her breathing was even, almost as if she were asleep. I looked back at Naru worriedly and he had on the headphones while watching the screen.

"Akio…" Mai whispered and her eyes opened. They seemed hazy, unaware of her surroundings.

"Mai…" I called but there was no response.

"Where's Akio?" She whispered while looking about.

"Are you Ishiko?" I asked and Mai's head swiveled toward me. Her eyes narrowed.

"Yes, who are you?"

"Where is Mai?" I avoided her question and she seemed to notice.

"Where is Akio?" She retaliated with her own question.

"You killed him, Ishiko." Her eyes widened and a gasp escaped her lips.

"No, I didn't! I just saw him a moment ago, asleep in his room!" Ishiko yelled. Her eyes were now wild with fury that I had figured her out. "And where's my mother?"

"She is dead just like you." The young girl's eyes glared at me, hatred the only thing in them.

"Don't lie to me! He's in there! And mother's not…" She paused and looked at the door. Then quickly Mai's body fell limp and back onto the make-shift bed. Her eyes fluttered open after a few seconds and she groaned lightly while feebly moving her hand to her forehead.

"Mai…" I quietly asked and she nodded her head.

"Lin…we need to set up now, Mai triggered Ishiko's spirit." Naru said from the computer base. I nodded my head to show I had heard him.

"Mai, are you alright?" She groaned and shook her head, her eyes squeezing closed. Ayako hurried over to the girl.

"Mai, tell me what's wrong." She voiced.

"The light hurts…and so does sound." Mai quietly said. It sounded like a migraine to me but I said nothing. Suddenly she gasped and she shot up from the bed and hurried to Hiroshi's room. In it was the dark mass, right over the young boy's body. We had all followed her up there.

"Get away from him! He is not your brother!" She yelled to the mass. The brunette ran and moved herself in front of Hiroshi before we could tell her no. And within a second, a gasp escaped her mouth and her body began convulsing.

**A/N:** Yep, I'm gonna leave it there for now. I'm so glad you guys read this and I'm gonna start the next installment as soon as I can.


	7. Reunion

**Disclaimer: I do now own Ghost Hunt**

_Ayako's POV_

It's never true what they say in the movies. When the pressure's on, time doesn't slow down. Everything happens all at once, a million things happening while you can only focus on one. Well at least that's what it felt like when Mai began convulsing. Time only stopped for that brief second before everything sped up.

I grabbed the young boy because Lin had already taken care of grabbing Mai. I kept the child near me but knew he had to be in the room. Naru had done something on the floor and Lin was placing Mai in the circle or whatever it was. I knew we didn't have time for an exorcism nor were we prepared for one.

"Is Miss Mai going to be okay?" Hiroshi quietly asked me. I couldn't find my voice so I decided to just pat him on the shoulder. That didn't seem to reassure him and he watched the scene unfold. John had already started the bible verses and Monk looked as lost as me. It seemed that Naru was the only calm one. Even Lin was frightened…

…Which made me go back to the fact I was noticing him care for her more and more on this case. They talked to each other, sat near each other, and even seemed to have some weird silent communication going on. Even if Mai didn't think anything was going on between the two of them, I knew Lin wanted something to happen. Mai seemed to trust him but she wasn't even that old yet.

Suddenly I heard a scream and my attention was brought back to the scene. I felt Hiroshi cling to me arm and hide his face from it. I could only pull the boy closer and cover his ears. Sadly he would probably have nightmares about this for years to come. Lin was saying something but I couldn't hear it over Mai's screaming. She looked like she was possessed by a demon because she was glaring at me and was being restrained by the circle that Naru had drawn on the ground.

"Give me back Akio!" Mai screamed but I knew it wasn't the girl we all loved. Her arms were reaching for Hiroshi but I made sure that distance couldn't possibly be filled. Quickly she turned to Lin and reached for his throat but he stepped back far enough that she couldn't reach out of the circle. After that she turned to try for Naru but he moved too quickly. And within ten seconds after her reaching and screaming, she fell to her knees sobbing.

"Why mother? Why did you choose Akio?" She sobbed out loud to no one. Lin pulled out a wooden board, a lot like the one from the doll house case, and held it to his side. The name on the Hitogata* was Akio Iwa. But unlike the Doll House case, we all knew this time is was Lin who was the Yin-Yang master, not Naru.

"I loved Akio more!" Mai screamed and looked back to where Hiroshi was. "I want him now!"

"That isn't Akio, Ishiko." Lin stated. Mai quickly turned to him, her eyes suspicious and hateful. He stepped closer and held out the Hitogata. We got to watch as Mai's eyes widened. Lin set the Hitogata on the floor and suddenly there was a gasp from Mai and the spirit of Ishiko flew out of her. Suddenly there was a warm glow and Ishiko stared at the Hitogata. With speed only a spirit could reach, Ishiko was holding who she thought Akio was.

"Akio! We're together again!" Ishiko sung while tears fell from the spirit's face. Soon the warm glow disappeared and Mai's body fell limp. She would have hit the ground if Lin hadn't caught her. The spirits were both gone and the room was quiet.

"Is Miss Mai alright now?" Hiroshi quietly whispered from my clothing. I nodded and he pulled away with a small smile. Then he turned to look at Mai. The relief of the room was amazing and we all seemed to relax. Lin lifted Mai in his arms and we all shuffled out of the room. Hiroshi ran to his mother and she hugged him while crying, glad he wasn't harmed.

_Lin's POV_

When we reached base, I set Mai down on the makeshift bed and before anyone could see me do it, gave a quick kiss to her forehead. Then I straightened from setting her down and watched as the others shuffled in. Ayako eyed me warily but said nothing. Naru quickly started ordering things to be taken down and put into the truck. It seemed like forever ago that we had come here, even though it was only that morning. This was probably the fastest case that we had ever completed.

"Lin, may I speak with you for a moment?" Ayako quietly asked me. I nodded my head and with one last glance to Mai, we both walked to an emptier part of the house. She stood there for a moment, just staring at me.

"What is it you needed, Matsuzaki-san?" I quietly asked her but I had a feeling I knew just what she wanted to talk to me about.

"Mai just finished high school, you understand that, right?" Ayako's voice was that of a mother's and while I should have found it intimidating like she wanted, it just made me glad to see someone was being a mother figure for Mai. But I nodded my head to what she asked and she sighed.

"I know it's not exactly my business who she associates with…or dates," The last word was quiet and sounded unhappy but she pushed on, "But Mai is like a daughter to me. And I don't want to see her hurt. Naru did enough of that and she doesn't need another heartbreak."

"Matsuzaki-san, Mai and I are only friends." I stated. Her gritted her teeth for a second and then sighed again.

"Lin, I know that. She told me so, but Mai isn't always the most observant when it comes to romance and she doesn't quite see that you are hitting on her." Her eyes dared me to deny it but I said nothing. "Mai needs someone who is willing to be there for her, emotionally as well as physically. Naru couldn't do that, can you?"

"That's all up to her." I didn't know what to say to Ayako that would convince her I wasn't as cold as Naru.

"You better not hurt her, or I'll hurt you." Ayako then stepped around me and walked off. I waited for a second and then followed back into base that was already half way packed up. Mai was still on the floor and I went and kneeled beside her. I could feel Monk and John staring at my back but they kept their mouths shut.

"L-Lin…"I heard the quiet groan from the floor in front of me and I turned straight to Mai. Her eyes were slowly blinking open and she looked up at me. I didn't let it show but it made me happy she called out to me while waking. "Is…is Hiroshi okay?"

"Yes, Mai, everyone and everything is fine now. You can rest." I smiled at her and she gave a weak one back. "Oh, and Mai…"

"Yes, Lin?"

"Call me Koujo from now on. Lin is my family name." She nodded her head to my request and closed her eyes again. Her breathing turned even quickly and she calmed. Ayako finally grabbed her medical supplies and brought them over to Mai.

"Lin, could you help me lift her? I need to bring her into another room so I can make sure she's not wounded." Ayako asked me and I nodded my head. I gently lifted the sleeping Mai from the makeshift bed and followed Ayako out of the room. We ended up in Akameko's large bathroom. She had apparently said we could use it to look over Mai. The priestess motioned for me to set Mai on the counter.

"Mai…"I gently shook the brunette while calling to her. It took a few times for her to come around but finally she did. "Matsuzaki-san needs to check you over."

"Alright…"She gave a large yawn and rubbed at her eyes. I stepped out of the bathroom and went to go and help pack up.

_Regular POV_

"Do you hurt anywhere, Mai?" Ayako asked the brunette. She shook her head and Ayako made sure nothing was bruised or cut. It only took a matter of minutes but then Mai was stuck sitting with Ayako staring at her.

"Mai, how do you feel about Lin?" Mai blushed and turned from the woman.

"W-well, I get butterflies when I'm around him…if that helps." Ayako nodded her head.

"Mai, I want you to hear me out on something." Mai nodded her head to indicate she was listening. "I know you haven't been in a relationship before, and I have, so I've got some experience. Lin seems like a kind man but I don't know if he's emotionally distant. I saw how Naru hurt you and I refuse to allow that to happen again, do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand Ayako." Mai answered while nodding her head.

"Which means I want you to really think about everything before you decide if you want to have a relationship with him. I want you to be sure you're ready and that he is worth anything you two might go through." The priestess wanted to make sure Mai's first relationship didn't go dreadfully like many had for her.

"There's no need to worry right now anyways, Ayako. I'm not even sure if he likes me." Mai hopped off the counter and started dusting off her clothing. The older brunette walked to the door and opened it and started out it.

"I wouldn't worry so much about that." Ayako said before leaving the bedroom entirely. The younger brunette stopped in her tracks and stared for a moment before smiling and hurrying to go and help finish packing before Naru gave into a sour mood.

**A/N:** Don't worry, there's more to come. Just because the case is solved doesn't mean I'm done here. But hope you enjoyed this installment. I'm working to make my next chapter much longer but until then, Enjoy!


	8. Questions and answers

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt**

The packing up went smoothly and everyone was saying their goodbyes. Ayako hugged Mai and quietly gave one last warning for her to think about everything before she does anything. Everyone gave hugs and Lin, Naru, and Mai hopped in the van to head back to the office to put up the paperwork and make sure everything was put away.

The drive to the office was quiet and slightly strained. Mai was still pondering what Ayako had said to her while leaving the bathroom but she wasn't sure what she meant and the young brunette wasn't even sure how she felt anymore. She knew she was giving up on Naru, that one was for sure, but she didn't know how she felt about Lin. They were clearly now close friends but she didn't know yet if she wanted more or not from the relationship and she sure didn't know if Lin wanted more or not.

They finally reached the office, nightfall having hit a while ago and hurried to get things out of the van and put up. It took a good hour and a half to do it and they were all back in the office, closing up shop.

_Mai's POV_

I yawned into the back of my hand and finished putting my things together. The case had been very short but being possessed took energy out of me. I stretched before grabbing my things and coat. I leaned into Naru's office and told him I was heading home. He didn't object, which didn't surprise me. As uncaring as he seemed, he understood the energy it took for the paranormal happenings and wouldn't overwork someone like that. So I headed to the front door and put my hand on the doorknob.

"Goodnight, Koujo." I called, unsure of if I should have said anything or not. I heard his office door open and his head peeked out.

"You're leaving, Mai?" He asked and I nodded my head while yawning. He held up one finger, telling me to wait for him. I stood there as I heard him gather his things. Then he leaned into Naru's office, telling him he was heading home. I didn't hear Naru object but I was sure he had a weird look on his face. Lin didn't explain anything and just walked over to me.

"It's good to carpool." That was his only explanation to driving me home but he smiled telling me he was joking as well. We headed out to his car and he held the door open for me. I gave him a smile and slid in the seat. He shut the door after me and then went to his side and sat in. He started up the car and warmed it up.

"Mai…"Lin started. I hadn't realized it but I had slowly started to fall asleep. I opened my eyes tiredly and looked over at him. He seemed serious so I woke up a little and sat straighter.

"Yes, Koujo?" My voice was quiet and I wondered what he wanted to tell me.

"Did Matsuzaki-san talk to you in the bathroom?" He asked quietly and I thought a minute before answering. I didn't want to lie to him so I just nodded my head. The Chinese man just turned and looked out the front window. Then he started to drive toward my apartment.

"Did she talk to you, Koujo?" I quietly asked, afraid he didn't want to answer. He also took a moment but nodded his head. I looked out the front window too and then sighed. "What'd she say?"

"She threatened me." The dark haired man chuckled out. I stared at him incredulously.

"Why?" I demanded to know.

"Well…" He paused and seemed reluctant to say something. It seemed like a long while with the silence and I noticed we had reached where I lived. The car was idle, humming quietly, and we were in baited silence. Koujo finally turned to me and he looked slightly worried. "She wanted to make sure…"

"Make sure of what, Koujo?" I softly urged him on.

"She wanted to make sure I wouldn't hurt you like Naru did." He paused and I didn't fully comprehend what he meant but I knew where he was going with it. "She really cares for you, Mai."

"I know…Ayako is a very protective person and I love her like an older sister." I voiced out.

"So what did she say to you, if you don't mind me asking?" Lin waited patiently for an answer.

"W-well…" I paused for a moment, trying to allow my blush to go down, "She asked me how I felt about you."

"What did you say?" Lin's voice had gotten quieter and now he was staring at me and I tried to hide my face.

"I told her…I told her I get butterflies when I'm around you." I whispered but he seemed to have heard me. "A-and then she told me to make sure I was ready before…"

"Before what, Mai?" Koujo asked me.

"Before I got into a relationship with you." I squeaked out, looking away from him. The car was silent, almost suffocating. I could hear his breathing as he thought about what I said.

"…Well, do you think you're ready?" Lin finally asked. I sucked in a breath of shock and turned to him, making sure I knew what he was implying with his question. His eyes gave nothing away so I waited for a moment before answering.

"I-I think so, yes." I quietly told him. The Chinese man smiled at me and nodded his head while shutting off the car. He stepped out and walked around to open my door for me. I grasped the hand that was held out and got out, Lin shutting the door behind me. Koujo and I walked up the steps and to my door in silence, him holding my hand the entire time. When I had unlocked my door and opened it a little I turned back to him.

"Mai…" He paused for a second and I stood waiting. He smiled down at me and gave a small chuckle. "I should ask you properly. Taniyama Mai, will you go on a date with me?"

"Yes, Lin Koujo, I will go on a date with you." My face was bright red but that didn't stop him from giving a kiss to my hand and waiting as I walked into my apartment and shut the door with a soft goodnight.

**A/N: I'm so sorry for the belated update! School started and I just couldn't find the time between all the homework for senior year.**


	9. Hell Froze Over

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt**

I stretched as my alarm clock beeped at me to wake up. It was a nice morning at seven o'clock and I knew I'd have to get into work before eight. With a quiet yawn I got out of bed and walked to my dresser. I sifted through my clothing, choosing a light blue tee-shirt and cargo khaki Capri's and then remembering that Lin had asked me out on a date. I wasn't sure if he meant later tonight or not so I grabbed a yellow sundress and yellow wedges and put it aside, wanting to be prepared.

I quickly headed to the shower and turned it on with a smile on my face. Then, while it was warming up, I went in search of a white thin strapped small purse that I would use in case Lin wanted to go on a date later that night. When that was found I headed into the shower and washed myself. I took my time on my hair and made sure I looked clean and got dressed while grabbing my bag full of things and gently placing my dress, shoes, and small purse in there.

Suddenly there was a knock at my door, making butterflies fill my stomach, and a smile lit my face. I gathered my things and hurried to the door, opening it to find Lin standing there, smiling lightly down at me. I stepped out and locked the door behind me before turning back to the tall Chinese man. We walked silently to his car and he held the door open for me before getting in himself.

"Did you sleep well?" Lin finally asked after a few minutes of silence. It was awkward in the car and when he asked that, the wall of awkwardness broke. I couldn't help but giggle at how cliché the question sounded and he chuckled along with me. I couldn't answer for a few moments as I caught my breath and then I gave him a large smile.

"That was the most cliché thing, ever." I said and he smiled and nodded slightly while driving. We were at the office and he parked, got out, and opened my door for me. I smiled up at him and we headed up to work together. When we got in the office I headed to my desk while he headed to his. Once I set my things down I went to make some tea for Naru.

_Regular POV_

Naru listened as his two assistants came into the office. It was a quiet entry so he got up to go see if something was the matter but nothing seemed out of place. He glanced out of his office toward where Mai was making tea before he had even asked for it. She was humming a tuneless song while making the tea and Naru just watched her for a bit.

The narcissist knew of Lin's feelings toward the younger woman and didn't begrudge him them. Because he too felt a love for her but he didn't act on it because he knew that his lack of affection would always hurt her more than anything and after Gene died, affection had been torn from him. But the love her felt for her wasn't as deep as Lin's seemed to be. No his love was more like the love a child would give; a confused sort of love. One that wanted to protect but was wary of the cooties a girl would give off. His emotions couldn't sustain a relationship of romance so he had little problem letting her go. And he had little problem with his assistant dating her either. He knew Lin would be a much better match for her than himself.

So the young man slid himself back into his office and sat down to start working, his mind sliding easily over all he had thought about. Suddenly his door creaked open and he looked up to find Lin in his office. It was an unexpected visit but he waited to see what the older man needed. The Chinese man's face gave off no signs of awkwardness, of hesitance, but the room seemed to be full of it.

"I need to take an early leave tonight." Koujo finally said. Naru nodded his head and turned back to his work. Just as Lin was about to open the door, Naru's voice stopped him.

"Will Mai be needed to take an early leave as well?" Naru's voice held a hint of teasing and Lin smirked, relieved that his ward wasn't angry.

"Based off of yesterday, I would assume so." Lin then opened the door and walked out of the office and back to his own. It was only moments later that Naru heard the whistle of the tea kettle. He knew his female assistant would be in soon to deliver his tea and probably ask to take the night off. A minute later he heard the door open and Mai walked in with a tray with tea cups. She walked to his desk and set one down, smiling at him. He just stared at her blankly as he took a sip of his tea.

"Oh, Naru, your bad mood won't put me in one today." She gave him a cheerful and kiddish wink and hopped out of his office. He just shook his head at the strange girl and sipped his tea, getting back to work.

_Mai's POV_

I couldn't help but feel giddy at the prospect of going on a date with Lin. I sat down at my desk and started to mindlessly file the paper work. I let my mind wander to where and when we might have our date when I came to a sudden realization. With a gasp, I dropped the stapler I had and jumped up from my seat. My smile was huge and I knocked on Lin's office door.

"Come in." His voice called and I opened the door and walked in to stand beside his desk. The tea I had made him was partly drunk and he looked to be busy but he looked up at me with a smile and pushed aside his work.

"Is everything alright, Mai?" Koujo asked me. I nodded my head and giggled lightly. He smiled happily and waited.

"Thank you, Koujo." It felt better to start off with a thank you instead of an explanation but it made the Chinese man quirk his eyebrow at me.

"May I ask why you're thanking me?" I nodded and felt my smile get brighter.

"Do you remember the conversation we had when you drove me to work? Not this morning but the other one." I asked him and waited while he thought back to it. After a few seconds he nodded his head, his eyes serious and a slight frown on his face. "Well, I did it!"

He thought for a moment, trying to understand what I meant, and then smiled at me. I felt so giddy knowing that I had moved on from Naru. I still cared for the man but it didn't hurt anymore. I felt so much weight was lifted off of me and I couldn't manage to stand still so I bounced on my toes, smiling widely.

"I'm very glad, Mai." Koujo stood from his desk and we walked out of his office and too the small couch in the lounge. Both of us sat down on it and lapsed into a short silence.

"Mai, would you care to come to dinner with me tonight?" The black haired man asked me. I smiled and nodded my head.

"Do you think Naru will mind being without tea for the end of the night?" I asked and giggled when Lin smirked and shook his head. I told him to wait there and I went and knocked on Naru's door. He told me to come in and I did and shut the door behind me.

"Naru…" I called out and he looked at me. I could have sworn there was a hint of a smirk on his face but for what I wasn't sure.

"Lin already asked for you." Now I was sure there was a smirk on his face and I blushed a bright red. I turned and went to open the door when his voice stopped me. "Mai…"

"Yes, Naru?" I turned back to look at him and he was facing his files.

"Before you both leave…" He let the words hang there for a moment and I waited in anticipation. "Be sure to make me some tea."

I growled lightly and stuck out my tongue at him and left the office. I could hear him chuckling and I just rolled my eyes and headed back over to the couch. Lin was smirking too and I blushed, remembering Naru said he had already asked for me. The Chinese man grasped my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before standing up with me following suit.

"Would you like to finish your paper work in my office?" Lin asked me and I nodded my head. He went into his office and I gathered my things and followed him. He made some room for me and I sat down with him. We silently worked, not much conversation needed. Suddenly Lin stopped typing and turned to me.

"Since I'm not fully aware of your eating habits…" For some reason, his sentence made me giggle but he waited to continue, "Is there any type of cuisine you would prefer tonight?"

"I'm fine with pretty much anything." I shrugged my shoulders, smiling up at him.

"How would you feel about Italian?" He asked me. I nodded my head and he smiled faintly at me before turning back to his work. We spent a good hour working before I heard Naru call for more tea. I stood up and headed into the kitchen, boiling some water. I heard feet shuffle and the man I was going to go on a date with was behind me, watching me make tea.

"I wonder how Masako will take the news when she learns that she no longer has competition." I wondered out loud. I heard Koujo chuckle lightly and I smiled. Then the door to work opened and the office was greeted with an array of voices.

"Who would like tea?" I called loudly. I heard five different variations of yes. I poured the cups and turned with the tray in my hand. Lin stopped me for a second and put his hand on mine that was holding the tray. He gave a gentle squeeze and I blushed while smiling and then walked into Naru's office.

Here's your tea!" I chimed happily and placed it on his desk. He gave me a look of boredom and took a drink. I got the joy of seeing just the tiniest of changes in his face as he tasted the peppermint in the tea. I hadn't made that tea for a while now. I practically skipped out of his office and to the people who were sitting in the lounge. I handed out the tea to everyone and went to put the tray away. Then I headed back to the lounge and sat down beside Lin with my cup of tea.

"Hey, how are you guys?" I asked while taking a sip of my tea. Time flew by as everyone reconnected after the case. Looking around I knew I didn't plan on getting work done. Naru had come out a few times to complain that work needed to be done but that didn't bother anyone. We all just laughed at him. The tea cups gathered on the small table in the middle of the room and stories were thrown back and forth between everyone.

Masako had attempted to engage me in a battle of jealousy over Naru but I just laughed and brushed her off, much to everyone's (except for Koujo's) surprise. I could feel Ayako's gaze on Lin and I every once in a while but she didn't seem too bothered. The air was too happy to have a sour mood following it. Yasuhara teased about me, claiming I had a secret boyfriend. My blushing cheeks only made to fuel him farther.

"Oh now, Mai, won't you tell us who it is?" Monk poked and prodded me for answers but I just laughed and pushed him away. I didn't say anything about it and as the hours rolled on, the time got late and everyone had started to pack up and leave.

"Come on, Ayako!" Monk groaned form the door. The older woman held up a neatly manicured finger to him, indicating that he should be quiet.

"Go out to the car, I'll be there in a minute." Ayako stared me right in eyes while talking to him, "There's something I need to talk to Mai about."

Monk nodded his head, noting the seriousness in her voice, and shut the front door behind him. The brunette placed a hand on my lower back and guided me to my desk, pulling a chair up beside it. Lin had gone to his office, kindly shutting the door behind him so that we could have our conversation privately. It was almost a full minute of just Ayako staring at me and me looking a bit flustered before anything was said.

"Mai…are you dating Lin?" Her voice was quiet, serious, and wanted a fully honest answer. I twiddled with my thumbs, blushing before looking her in the eyes.

"I'm going on a date with him tonight." It was the only answer I could give. I didn't know when a relationship turned from going on dates to being called boyfriend and girlfriend. She nodded to my answer, thinking for a bit.

"So you thought about what I said?" I nodded my head and she gave a smile. "Well at least you thought about it. If he does anything to hurt you, even if he just says something mean, you come and tell me, alright?"

"Alright, I will Ayako." I giggled and leaned out and hugged the older woman. She gave me a tight squeeze back and then headed for the front door. Before she opened it, she turned back to me.

"Don't you two have too much fun tonight!" She gave a wink my way, causing my cheeks to flare, and then walked out of the office and to Monk who was waiting for her. I smiled and heard Lin's door open. He came over to me and gave a gentle smile.

"I'll be ready to leave in ten minutes." I nodded my head and quickly got out of my seat. The tall Chinese man headed back to his office and I grabbed my outfit and hurried into the office bathroom. It took me no time to change and I was checking over my make-up when a knock sounded at the door.

"Just a moment!" I called and hurried with my make-up before opening the door. It was Naru who had knocked and his eyes widened a fraction before settling into their usual stoic look. I giggled and hopped out of the bathroom.

"How do I look?" I twirled, delighting in the way my dress flared out like a bell. When I stopped Naru gave a ghost of a smile to me before going into the bathroom. I took his smile as a good answer and then gathered up my things and noticed Koujo's door was closed. I knocked and heard a faint come in. I hurried inside and got the pleasure of seeing Lin's eyes widen at my outfit. He gave me a small smile and I blushed in return.

"Are you ready?" He asked me and I nodded my head. He gave a few clicks to his computer and then shut it down. Then he quickly gathered his things and held out his arm, to which I gently grabbed as if we were headed to the ball. We were about to walk out the door when I gasped.

"Wait! I forgot to make Naru another pot of tea!" I hurried to the kitchen while Lin slowly followed me. It was a few minutes later when the tea kettle sounded and I made Naru's tea in a hurry, making sure not to spill any on myself. Then I walked quickly into his office and set down the cup. I was about to practically prance out the door when Naru's voice stopped me.

"Mai…" I turned to him and watched him take a sip of the tea. He set the cup down and gave that ghost of a smile again.

"Yes, Naru?" I asked quietly.

"Thank you."

_Naru's POV_

I smirked as I got to watch her eyes widen and she nodded her head frantically while quickly leaving my office. But I couldn't help but to roll my eyes when I heard her shout "Koujo, hell has frozen over!"

**A/N:** Guys I am so sorry for the super belated update. It took me quite literally forever to write this chapter but I like the way I ended it. I tried to make this one a longer chapter and hopefully I succeeded in that. Well I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!


	10. 1st dates and strange dreams

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt**

The drive to restaurant was filled with comfortable silence. Neither of us felt the need to fill it with small talk. From the way we had been going, the restaurant was on the edge of the city. Nothing too fancy but not too cheap either. I was glad for that, considering I wasn't ready for any super fancy things with Koujo just yet.

We finally reached the Italian restaurant and Lin quickly stepped out of side of the car and walked to my side to open my door. It was a gentlemanly gesture to which I couldn't help but smile about. The night was warm and where we were was a quiet place filled with little traffic noise and some people going in and out of neighboring places. It was rather nice and we walked inside.

The smell of garlic bread filled my nose. There were a few people dining as well and one of the waiter's had just brought out a small basket of freshly baked garlic bread. It smelled delicious and I couldn't wait to see the menu. We took a seat at booth that was beside the window and quickly a waiter came and handed us some menus and said he would be back shortly to get our drink orders. Both Lin and I nodded and looked at the drinks they had to offer. They had the usual array of fountain drinks and a few alcoholic drinks but I didn't feel like any of those so I just decided on water.

"What would you both like to drink this evening?" The waiter asked us. He was a tall man, maybe in his early thirties. He had short brunette hair that looked like it might be already starting to gray and he wore a comforting smile. His attire was just a white undershirt with a black apron over it with black pants and black shoes. It was nothing too fancy but it was very professional.

"I think I'm just going to have some water tonight, please." I said and he wrote it down before turning to look at Lin.

"And you, sir?" He politely and kindly asked.

"I'll just be having unsweetened tea with lemon, if you wouldn't mind." Koujo answered. The waiter left us with a parting smile and headed to the back. I looked over my menu to see what I wanted to eat, while my date did the same. The waiter was back with our drinks and set them down for us.

"Do you have your orders ready?" I nodded my head and set down my menu.

"I think I'll have your ravioli." He smiled and wrote it down. I wasn't feeling adventurous tonight and decided to go with what I knew. I had eaten ravioli once before and liked it so I didn't doubt I would like this one as well.

"I would like to have the Aglie e Olio without the red chili flakes if you don't mind." Koujo ordered. It took my breath away how finely he spoke the Italian dish. It seemed the waiter was slightly surprised too, considering Lin looked Asian and not one bit Italian. But I wasn't too surprised that he probably knew Italian. The man seemed to know almost everything under the sun.

"Your orders will be out shortly." Once again, he left with a parting smile and took our menus with him. I twiddled with my napkin, not knowing what to say now that there was nothing left to occupy my attention. I could feel his eyes on me and I knew that if I looked at him, he would have a small knowing smirk on his lips.

"Mai, you know, it's customary to at least look your date in the eyes." Lin quietly, but smugly, spoke. My face heated even more and then I could barely stand to twiddle with the napkin anymore. I heard him chuckle and I _knew_ that he had an all-knowing smirk on his face. I took a deep breath and decided to look up at him.

"I knew it." I muttered under my breath.

"Hmm?" Lin hummed out, but I was sure he knew what I was talking about. I gave him a playful glare but the blush still adored my cheeks.

"I knew you'd be smirking." And he was. But my comment only fueled him further, causing my blush to brighten. I sighed and shook my head while looking back down at my napkin. I could feel his eyes just staring at me but I didn't know what to say, what to talk about even.

"I wonder why Naru thanked you when we left." I was more than grateful for Lin starting some sort of conversation and I looked up with a bright smile.

"I don't know but it sure was weird. Like I said, hell froze over. It's the only logical explanation." I did an amazing job keeping the smile from my face but I could keep it for long when I met Lin's eyes and I could tell he was holding back a laugh. I burst into giggles behind my hand and he let out a chuckle and a smirk, which was a lot considering who it was.

"Maybe someone drugged him. You didn't, by chance, see anything weird in his tea." Koujo was smiling as he asked this and I shook my head while laughing. Suddenly, the waiter was back and he placed our food down in front of us. Then he left and we both started to eat our dinner. Time went by in a flash and we both talked about just small things here and there while eating. Then, after we both finished our dinner, he took me home.

"I'll see you at work tomorrow." I smiled up at him. We were standing by my apartment door, the porch light dimly lighting it but it was enough for both of us.

"Goodnight, Mai. Sleep well." Then he leaned down and gave a gentle kiss to my cheek. Quickly my entire face flared a bright red but I couldn't help but to smile.

"Goodnight, Koujo. Be safe driving home, alright?" My face became serious quickly. He nodded his head and squeezed my hand gently before turning and walking down the steps of the staircase. I watched him leave and then turned and opened the door to my apartment. It was dark and I quickly flipped on the lights. I yawned and slipped off my shoes, still smiling because of the kiss to my cheek.

Shutting the door behind me, and locking it, I headed to my bedroom. I set my clothes that I had worn to work beside my bed, planning to wash them tomorrow. Then I slipped off my dress and got into my sleep clothing. I went and turned off the living room light and then went into my bedroom, turning off the light as well. Watching my footing, I slipped into the bed and almost immediately fell asleep.

_Looking about, I suddenly realized I was in my living room, sitting on my couch. There was tea in front of me and a beautiful doll sitting right next to me. She was porcelain and had the same blank face all porcelain dolls had. Her glassy eyes stared forward at something no one would ever see. Her clothing was a Victorian light-green dress but she had no shoes. Her hair was a dark brunette that was put up into two small braids._

_With the shake of my head, I turned to look back at my tea. I grasped the small tea cup and took a sip of it. Quickly I spit it out and gagged just a little bit. There was way too much honey in the tea and I wasn't sure why anyone would put that much honey in anyone's tea._

"_I told you." I heard from beside me. I quickly whipped my head to the side to see if someone was there but no one was. It was just the doll and it was still sitting and staring like it had been moments before. But something was different about it. Its eyes now had life behind them that they hadn't had before. Then, the next thing I knew, it had turned its head and its mouth opened rather wide and I could feel myself getting sucked in._

A/N: I'm so sorry guys for not updating sooner. I had major writer's block on how to write a first date so this was all I could get. By the way, the dream she had was inspired by a song. If you can guess the name of the song (or the person who wrote it), I will put you [or an original character of yours] into the next case in my story. (If you guess the song but do not want an OC character of yours, or yourself, in the story, I will put something else in that you would like to see in the upcoming case.) 


	11. Honey coated Breakfast

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt**

**A/N: The winner of the contest of last chapter is Kyia Star! For two reasons: First, she was the only one who guessed and second, while the song wasn't Still Doll (It was Creepy Doll), the song Still Doll fits just as nicely.**

I sat up, breathing quickly and heavily. I placed my hand to my heart and could feel it pulsing at a high rate, so I took deep and slow breaths. Slowly I looked around my room, seeing just the barest of light seeking entrance into my room from the outside. With a slight groan, I rubbed my eyes and slipped out of my bed. My feet quietly padded toward the kitchen and I flipped on the light above the sink and started to make some tea. With a glance at the clock, I noticed it said that the time was only five in the morning.

"Stupid dream, waking me up way too early." I grumbled while placing the tea kettle onto the stove and flipping the switch to turn the fire on. I stretched and pulled the honey out of the cabinet but then I stared at it, getting a nauseating feeling in my stomach. I wasn't sure why, but I didn't want honey in my tea. So I slowly put it back and just stood there. I could feel my dream slipping away from me, piece by piece. All I could remember was a doll, tea, and feeling like I was being sucked up.

The tea kettle whistled and I quickly turned off the fire. I put some of the tea into a cup and took a sip of the warm liquid. It was soothing to my frazzled nerves and I sat down onto my couch. Gently I set the tea cup down onto the small table and sat back against the couch, getting a strange sense of déjà vu but I wasn't sure why. I looked about and then felt like something was missing. I couldn't place what, so all I did was shake my head and lifted my tea cup again, taking a sip.

The only light that was filling the room was the light form over the sink. It was dark but comforting as the sun slowly made its way into the sky. I finished off my cup of tea and went back to the kettle and filled another cup for myself. I was much calmer and now couldn't remember anything of my bad dream. Unfortunately, I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so I didn't even try.

_Lin's POV_

I felt another presence come into my room and I knew immediately that it was the shiki I had left with Mai. Quickly, I sat up from my bed, awake almost instantly. I hurried and put on some decent clothing, grabbed my keys, and bolted out the door. I hopped into my car and turned it on, speeding away toward Mai's apartment.

The sun was rising over the sky, so I knew something was wrong if she was awake this early. I parked the car, her apartment not being far, and quickly got out and took the stairs by two. I made it to her door in no time and knocked, almost out of breath but managing to compose myself before the door had opened. I felt so relieved when Mai opened the door. She was in her pajamas, and I noticed that they had Halloween ghosts on them and had to stop from chuckling at the irony. Her hair was a little disheveled and she looked tired.

"Koujo, what's wrong?" Her face was completely worried and I gave a mental sigh of relief that everything seemed to be okay with her.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." I stated and she got a confused look on her face. Then her face gained some recognition and she invited me in. Silently she headed into the kitchen while I sat down on the couch. Quickly the brunette headed back over to me with a cup of tea. She sat down and grabbed her already-made cup of tea from the coffee table and took a sip from it.

"So how long have you had your shiki following me?" Her face had a small smirk, so I was glad she wasn't upset with me.

"For a while now. It worried me when he came back. The only time my shiki come back is either when I have told them to or something has gone wrong. I hadn't told my shiki to come back, so the only other option was something was wrong. Which leads me to the question, why are you up at this time?" I asked her. She gave a small smile while setting her tea cup down onto the coffee table.

"Oh, I just had a bad dream. I can't even remember what it was about but all I know is I won't be able to get back to sleep now." Mai flashed another smile my way and I was relieved that everything seemed to be in order. Then she gave a frown and I watched with slight worry as her hand went up to her hair and she ran her fingers through it. I had to bite back a chuckle at the look on her face. Then she gave a sheepish smile to me.

"I need to take a shower." She gave a small awkward laugh and stood from the couch. "You don't mind if I leave you alone for ten minutes, do you?"

"No, it's fine. Take as long as you need." I answered and she gave a smile while heading off to her bedroom to gather some clothing. She was back out in no time and headed into the bathroom that was beside her bedroom. The door clicked shut but not two seconds later, it opened and her head peeked out.

"You're welcome to anything in the kitchen." The short brunette smiled and shut the door. When the door shut, I took another sip of my tea and then quickly drank the rest. Gently I grabbed both our cups and headed to the sink, placing them in it. Then I clicked off the sink's overhead light and noticed how the sun illuminated the room enough now that no florescent light was needed.

Then I noticed a picture frame that sat on the windowsill above her sink. Slowly I picked it up and saw it was a man and a woman. The woman was in a wedding dress while the man was in a tux. Both the man and woman had brunette hair. The man had brown eyes and the woman had blue eyes. I could tell that these were Mai's parents because she bore such striking resemblances to both of them that there was no doubt that they had both played a part in creating her.

I put the picture down and picked up the picture on the other side of her windowsill. I couldn't help but give a slight smile. It was of all of us. Mai was standing in the center of it, glaring up at Takigawa-san who was resting his arm on top of her head. Then to her other side was Matsuzaki-san, who was fretting over her hair, making sure it was good for the photo. Then beside Matsuzaki-san was Hara-san who was stoic as ever but you could see the hint of a smile on her face as she attempted to ignore the people around her.

Beside Takigawa was Naru, looking irritated and bored at the same time, probably thinking it was all ridiculous to be taking a group photo. Beside Hara-san was Brown-san who was looked like he was trying to calm down the group but it never worked. I remembered that photo. I had been the one to take it. Mai had tried to convince me to be in the picture but I didn't want to at the time. I had agreed with Naru that it was ridiculous but now I felt differently. Strangely, now, I wanted to be a part of that picture. And I felt oddly jealous that Mai had a picture of everyone but me in her kitchen.

I set the picture down and walked back to the living room. Then I suddenly noticed some pictures that were hanging on her walls and some were sitting on tables. Glancing about at them, I noticed that a lot were individual or couple photos. There was Brown-san looking concentrated, Hara-san avoiding the camera, Takigawa smiling with a victory sign, and many others. I sat on her couch, looking at some of the photos that were on the side tables. And then I noticed one that sat underneath the lamp on one of the side tables for the couch.

Leaning over to the table, I grasped the picture and felt surprise. I didn't remember this picture or how it had come about. It was of me, sitting at my computer, typing away while a tea cup sat beside me, half finished. I couldn't recall a moment when Mai had stepped into my office and snapped a photo of me. But it seemed she had and I now felt slightly guilty of my jealous earlier. I gave a small smile and set the picture back where it had been sitting right as Mai stepped out of the bathroom.

"Hope you didn't die of boredom while I was showering." Mai called out while scrubbing her hair dry. Finally the towel laid on her shoulders, letting the rest of her hair dry on it. She was wearing Capri jeans with a white tee-shirt and a short, half-sleeved green jacket. She skipped over to me and sat beside me with a smile.

"When did you manage to take a picture of me?" I casually asked while indicating the photo on the side table. The brunette flashed me a smile and then grabbed the picture, looking it over with remembering eyes.

"It was right after the Blood-Stained Labyrinth. You were so concentrated on getting all the paperwork done on the case and on my newly found powers that you hadn't noticed when anyone walked in unless they asked you a direct question. So I knew it was a perfect opportunity to catch you in your natural habitat." She gave me a toothy grin and I could only chuckle as she put the photo back.

_Mai's POV_

"You only wish that was my natural habitat." I heard Lin say and a blush arose to my cheeks. I looked down at my lap and I could feel his eyes on me. He was going to be wearing that smug smirk again, I just knew it, so I didn't even bother looking up.

"Mai…" I looked up when he called my name. Damn! He was wearing the smirk. "Would you like to go and get breakfast, since we're awake early enough to do so?"

"Oh, that sounds great! Let me get my things real quick!" I hopped up from the couch and headed into my bedroom. I quickly grabbed my bag of things and hurried back out to the living room. The black haired man was already ready to leave and opened my front door for me to walk out of. He locked it behind him and we walked down the stairs. I blushed when his hand just barely touched my lower back, making sure I wouldn't fall.

Lin was such a gentleman and held open the passenger side door for me while I got in. I knew if it had been a month before now I would have never guessed that Lin Koujo was like this but now I couldn't imagine thinking of him that way again. At least he wasn't cold like Naru. How I saw past Lin and went straight for Naru, no one will ever be able to explain.

I liked listening to the hum of the engine while we silently rode to a place to eat. I wasn't sure where we were going but it was nice to be going somewhere again. Last night had been so nice and I was more than ready to be on a date with the man driving the car again. I felt giddy thinking about it and I suddenly burst into giggles. I saw out of the corner of my eye as Koujo glanced at me with a quirked eyebrow.

"Might I ask what is so funny?" I could see the corner of his lip lifted, knowing he was smirking.

"Oh nothing…It's too embarrassing anyways." I mumbled the last part while looking out the window with a blush. The car has pulled to a stop and we were parked in front of a lovely little eatery that looked like it served one of those old fashioned American breakfasts that Southern Belles would feed their guests.

"Mai…" His voice was quiet and when he called me, I couldn't deny him my attention. "I'd like to know."

"I'm just…" I cursed my blushing face in my head, "…giddy to be going on another…" I clenched my teeth together, wishing my blush would die down instead of strengthening, "date with you."

"Does it make you angry to be giddy?" Koujo's voice was calculating and distant when he asked that. I gasped and shook my head quickly.

"No! It's not that at all!" I could see relief wash over his face. "It's just…" I sighed and shook my head a little while laughing a bit, "I wish I could control my blushing."

"I happen to enjoy your blush." The black haired SPR employee casually said while getting out of the car. My eyes went wide when I heard that and my face turned beet red. I heard him open my side door and I stepped out while hearing him chuckle. We walked in to the eatery silently and were lead to a small booth. I had been right about the Southern Belle feel of the place and with a short glance over the menu I knew I had been spot on about it.

"How do you know about all these small place eateries?" I asked casually while looking over the menu. I couldn't decide and looked up at Lin.

"I don't just do work on the computer all day. Do you honestly think SPR brings in _that _much paperwork? Anyways, what would you like to eat?" He was looking over the menu and it seemed he couldn't decide either.

"I don't know, to be honest." I shrugged and sighed while looking over the menu again, trying to find something to chose.

"Well how about we get the breakfast platter? It has enough on it that we could get just one and share it." Koujo watched my reaction and I nodded my head, glad I didn't have to choose something that early in the morning. Both of us set the menus on the edge of the table and I stretched with a large yawn.

"Does Naru know you're out of the apartment?" I asked him and giggled a little when he shook his head with a smirk.

"I'm sure he's figured it out by now, considering it's almost five-forty in the morning and the sun has risen. But it doesn't matter. He's not my keeper. I left a shiki with him and I'm sure he knows that I have, so I know he's fine right now." The quiet man shrugged it off like it didn't matter and I was about to say something back but then our waitress came. She was clearly from Southern America and her Japanese had a strong American Southern accent with it.

"Hey, I'm Trudy and I'll be your waitress today. What can I get for you both?" She looked at me first and I looked to Lin, making her turn her attention to him.

"We'll take two waters and one Breakfast platter." The waitress nodded her head, scribbled the order down, and hurried off to the kitchen. It was only us and a small American family at the moment in the restaurant to which I was grateful because I didn't want to deal with loudness at this time in the morning.

"I'm sorry I woke you up, by the way." I smiled sheepishly at him and Koujo returned it but only with a small smile of his own.

"I'd rather be woken to make sure you're okay than asleep and unknowing." I gave a grateful smile because it was his way of forgiving me. "So do you remember anything of the dream you had?"

"All I can remember is the feeling of being swallowed whole…" I racked my brain for what my dream might have been. I knew I had remembered more of it earlier when I was making my tea but I couldn't remember as much now. I let out a groan of frustration and shook my head.

"It's okay Mai. I don't expect you to remember a nightmare." Lin's quiet voice soothed me and I gave a soft sigh and nodded my head.

"I suppose you're right. I'm sure I want to remember it." I remembered the feeling I had when I had woken and it was of dread so I wasn't sure if I wanted to remember. "I just hope it wasn't an important dream."

He nodded his head and then our breakfast was here. It looked delicious and silently we both dug in, eating to our heart's content. The meal didn't last long and Lin paid the bill and we headed out and to work. The sun was higher in the sky and Lin proceeded to tell me that it was roughly six forty-five and I was slightly shocked at how long we had spent in there.

"Well at least we'll be early to work." I absentmindedly said and I heard him chuckled. "Thank you for breakfast, Koujo."

"You're welcome, Mai." His voice was quiet but I could hear the contentedness in it. I felt content myself and I couldn't help but smile at the turn of all the events in the last few days. Things were looking so much better from before.

We reached the work place and I gathered my things and hopped out of the car and rushed to Lin's door, sweeping it open for him with a cheeky grin. He gave me a playful pointed stare and got out of the car. I smirked and shut it behind him and sauntered to the office door. He followed closely behind and before I could even grasp the door handle, his hand was already pulling it open. I turned quickly to stick my tongue out at him but my breath was pulled from my lungs.

Lin's face was so close to mine and it had that smug smirk he was now always wearing. He was close enough to me I could smell the shampoo he used and the soap as well. My heart beat quickly in my chest and I could only stare at him in awe. He kept my gaze for a few moments, his smirk never leaving and his eyes filling with more and more mirth. A blush was spreading across my cheeks but I couldn't stop looking at him.

"Ahem..." We heard from behind us and we both jumped in slight surprised and looked at the culprit of the noise. It was Naru and he had an eyebrow raised in our direction. "I'd appreciate none of that in the office doorway."

My blush got larger and I hurried inside, hearing Lin chuckling behind me. I set my things beside my desk and then went into the kitchen to start on tea before Naru could even bother to ask for it. Naru was asking Lin where he had gone off to and Lin told him about how I had a nightmare and that his shiki had come to tell him something was wrong. I could only assume that Naru took this as a sufficient enough answer when I heard his door shut.

"Mai" I heard the half-shout from Naru's office but I cut him off.

"I already started it!" I shouted back to him and then the whistle of the kettle went off and I gave a smile. Quickly I poured the tea and went to grab the honey when a sick feeling fell upon me. I grasped the counter, gently setting the honey down, and tried to take deep, slow breaths. Finally the nausea passed and I grasped the honey, still having a sick and uneasy feeling while putting it into the tea. I looked at the tea for a few moments and decided I would stick with just water.

So with the two cups on a platter, I headed into Naru's office first. I set his tea down and then headed into Lin's office. He gave me a small smile and took a sip of his tea. The quiet man got a look of confusion and he pulled the tea cup away from his lips and looked at it. I stared, wondering as to why he looked so confused.

"Mai…did we run out of honey?" Koujo asked me quietly. I shook my head, now looking confused myself.

"I thought I put enough in the tea cups." I said quietly.

"Mai, why didn't you put honey in my tea?" I heard Naru call from his office. I looked rather shocked but turned to go get it. I heard Lin get up and follow me and also Naru came out of his office. I could feel both their eyes on me and they were quite a few feet behind me in the small kitchen as I grabbed the bottle of honey. I popped the thing open and felt dizzy.

"_I told you."_ I heard from a far away distance. I could feel myself swaying and I grabbed the counter to support myself. The voice was of a small child with a female voice that was chiding but smug. I shook my head, trying to clear it, but that only made me dizzier.

"Mai." I heard the muffled voice of Lin and could barely see him coming toward me. My insides felt like they were being swallowed whole and I felt like throwing up and the taste in my mouth was of tea that had way too much honey. I could feel my gagging reflex go and the last thing I remembered see was Lin and Naru's worried face.


	12. The Little Sister Ghost

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the anime/manga Ghost Hunt**

_Mai's POV_

"Mai, can you hear me?" I heard a slightly frantic voice calling. I groaned and lifted my hands up to rubbed my eyes. My head was pounding and when I opened my eyes, I was blinded for a second. I heard a sigh of relief and when I could finally see, I found that my head was cradled in Lin's lap while I laid across the couch.

"K-Koujo…what happened?" With the help of the Chinese man's hand, I sat up slowly, making sure I didn't get too dizzy. I shifted and was sitting normally on the couch.

"You were going to get the honey from the kitchen when you passed out. You've been out for about ten minutes now." His face looked worried as he said that. I tried to concentrate on what had happened but I couldn't really get anything.

"Ugh, I can't remember anything after Naru asking why I hadn't added any honey to his tea." I groaned in frustration. Lin gently grasped my hand and I looked at him, a small smile forming.

"It's okay. Give it some time. We'll figure out what happened." Koujo said and I nodded, reassured by his words. Both of our heads turned, though, when we heard the office door open and a young teenager came in, looking about sheepishly. Then she met our eyes and gave a small smile.

"Am I interrupting a lunch break?" Her hair was black and went about two inches past her shoulders. She had a natural glow to her face and she was in a school uniform that was blue and white.

"No, you're not interrupting." I stood from the seat and headed over to her. "I'm Taniyama Mai. How may Shibuya Psychic Research help you today?"

"I'm Kagami Natsu, and I was hoping you could help me." The young teen said. I walked her to my desk and she sat in the chair in front of it while I sat behind the desk. I pulled out all of my needed materials and then looked at her.

"Please explain your case, Kagami-san." I stated to her. She didn't seem too distraught, which seemed like a good sign.

"Half a year ago, my little sister was murdered. She was seven years old and was walking home from school with our step-dad and she had gotten lost from his sight. We had search parties going for weeks but her body never was found." I nodded my head, encouraging her to keep going. "Well everything was pretty quiet while the search parties went, but when they stopped a month after there was no progress, things started to get weird at my house. Okay, my little sister's room has been closed ever since the searching stopped and it sounds like someone is playing with toys in there. My family and I are too scared to go inside and find out what is happening in there. Also I'll be doing things and will see out of the corner of my eye, my little sister just sitting beside me, crying. I can kind of make out that she's bruised and had blood on her. I think there might be dirt too but I'm not sure."

"May I have your little sister's name?" I asked when she had paused and started to get a lost look in her eyes.

"Oh, yes, you may. Her name was Mikazuki." It brought Kagami-san's attention back to the matter at hand. "Also, when I will be in my bed, trying to go to sleep, I'll hear her crying for help but it always sounds so muffled or sometimes her cries will stop. Not just abruptly, though, but as if she's being choked into stopping. My mother says she hears them and we both can't take it anymore and would like help."

"Have you called in a priest to maybe help Mikazuki's soul move on?" I asked and she gave a nod.

"We've actually had three priests come in to help her move on but it didn't work. She just continued with her cries. We were hoping you could find out how to help her move on." Natsu explained and I nodded my head.

"I hope you don't mind waiting here for a moment while I go ask my boss about your case." I smiled at her and she gave a small smile back. Quickly I headed into Naru's office and he gave me a look.

"Someone brought in a case. I was wondering if you would take a look at it." I placed my notes on his desk and he looked over them. Then he nodded and I hurried out to the client.

"Kagami-san, if you would follow me please." The young teen stood up and headed into Naru's office and sat down. I sat beside Natsu, which Naru didn't seem to mind, and the young woman gave me a kind smile. Then she proceeded to reiterate her case to my boss, to which he sat quietly through. Once she was done, he proceeded to contemplate it through again and gave a slight nod again.

"We'll take your case, Kagami-san. Please have room ready for my employees and I. We'll need at least two rooms, three if you could provide them. One of the rooms needs to have many outlets. This won't be a problem for you, will it be?" Naru asked and Kagami-san shook her head.

"We can only provide you with two rooms, though. Will that be alright?" She politely asked, to which Naru nodded his head. Then she wrote down her information and I walked her to the door.

"I hope this isn't imposing of me, but you seem to be at ease with the fact your little sister died." I said quietly and she gave me a serene smile.

"I am. I do not know what kind of death she suffered, but to know that you will be able to take her out of her suffering, that puts me at complete ease." Natsu explained and I blushed a little at her compliment of the company.

"You place a lot of trust in us." I stated and she nodded her head, her expression suddenly serious.

"I have a feeling about you all, and this place. It puts me at ease and gives me something to believe in. I trust fully that you will be able to rid my little sister of her suffering." Kagami-san then placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and looked me right in the eye. "Please take great care of her when you meet her, Taniyama-san."

I could only blinked with wide eyes and nod my head. She then turned and left the building, leaving me standing there confused and slightly shaken up. I wasn't quite sure what she meant by her parting words but I had a feeling she knew of my psychic powers and that she knew _I_ would be the one to contact her younger sister and bring her to the afterlife. I could only hope that somehow I would be able to do just that for her.

I gave a slight shake of my head and turned back to my desk. I was still a little shaken up when I sat down and for a long while I just stared at my desk. A lot of strange things were occurring in this one day and it felt so overwhelming but also just very out of place. First the nightmare, then my apparent fainting spell, and now a client who seems to know what I can do when she'd yet to see it. It wore me out slightly and so I just laid my head down on my desk and closed my eyes.

"Mai." Naru's voice made me lift my head slowly, giving a slight yawn and blinking. I gave a small shake of my head and looked around, noticing the light in the room. It was much brighter outside, which told me I had slept until noon.

"Yes, Naru?" I yawned out and he just rolled his eyes at me. I stuck my tongue out, making him give me a blank stare.

"Do you remember anything from before you passed out?" He was leaning against the door way casually but he was serious about his question. I felt a slight skip in my heartbeat at the sight of him, because I still was physically attracted to him, but I let it go because emotionally I was over the young man.

"The only thing I can remember is…" I stopped as I heard a slight whisper in my head. Naru's face only changed slightly. He became more focused on my face but said nothing to interrupt me. I focused my energy on the voice whispering inside my head and could hear a young girl's creepy voice. "…A little girl's voice. I remember a little girl's voice."

"What just happened, Mai?" Naru asked me and I focused again because suddenly the words were clearer.

"I told you? What are you talking about?" I asked out loud, because I could hear the young girl's voice telling me she told me so. Then suddenly I smelled honey and groaned as the urge to throw up happened.

"Mai?" Naru came over to my desk but I didn't respond to him as I was trying to let the nausea pass. After a moment, I looked at him and gave a weak smile.

"I'm okay. I just suddenly remembered some of the things from right before I passed out. There was a little girl telling me that she told me and suddenly there was the taste of honey in my mouth, and way too much at that. It made me sick but I'm not sure why that caused me to pass out. I think, though, that the little girl, who keeps talking to me, took the honey out of your tea. I don't know how, or why, but I just have this feeling that it was her who took your honey." I explained. My boss's eyebrow had slowly risen as I had spoken.

"She _keeps_ talking to you?" His question was slow and enunciated and I gave a sheepish smile.

"Well that's what I was focusing on just a second ago. The little girl was talking to me. Or at least it sounds like a little girl. I can't see her but I somehow feel she's connected to the nightmare I had this morning." I explained and he nodded his head while going back into his office. I stood from my desk and stretched, popping my joins and yawning.

"I see you woke from your nap." I blushed and turned to find Lin leaning against the wall looking at me. He gave me a small smile that was comforting and walked over to me. "So a little girl is making you pass out?"

"I guess so." I shrugged because I honestly had no clue. I felt Koujo grasp my hand and give it a gentle squeeze, to which I gave one back.

"We'll figure it out, I promise." His voice was calm and did have a soothing effect on me. I gave him a grateful smile.

"So what have you been doing while I napped?" I asked, in a better mood. He shrugged and led me to his office by the hand, making me blush for some reason.

"I've been seeing if I could find anything on Kagami-san's little sister but nothing but news reports has shown up. When I looked up their last name, nothing substantial came up. One of Kagami-san's mother's friend blogged that the client's mother had gotten remarried and that the reception was amazing. Nothing more was said about the family. It seems they aren't a largely known family, which is a bit of a problem but not too much." Koujo gave me a soft smile.

"We'll be able to solve this, I'm sure." I smiled but then remembered what the girl had said to me, which put a slight frown on my face. Koujo's smile went instantly from happy to a worried look.

"Is everything okay, Mai?" Lin's voice was worried.

"Yeah, except that Kagami-san had said something really weird to me before she left." He waited for me to continue and I remembered back to it. "She looked me right in the eyes and told me 'Please take great care of her when you meet her, Taniyama-san.' It was almost like she was telling me she knew I was psychic. It made me feel a little strange."

"As it should, it sounds rather curious I might say. How about you stay in my office for now?" Lin offered and I nodded my head and was about to gather my things but he didn't let go of my hand.

"Koujo…is everything okay?" I quirked an eyebrow at him and he laughed a little.

"Yes, everything is quite alright. You've just had me worried since this morning." My heartbeat sped up at her said that as if it were the most normal thing in the world. It made butterflies erupt inside of my stomach and I let out a small giggle, making him look at me with questioning eyes. I just blushed and gave a weak smile and he let go of my hand. I nearly wobbled out of his office to go gather my things because his words had made me weak-kneed at how giddy they made me.

Quickly I gathered my things and was about to gather paperwork when I realized there was none to be gathered. I found that rather odd but shrugged and headed back into Lin's office again. I set my things down and got comfortable in one of the chairs in his office. I glanced about and then noticed some pages on his desk and gave him a reproving look.

"What is it?" The Chinese man once again gave me a questioning look, so I glanced down at the papers and back at him. For once he gave me a sheepish look and slid the papers to the side. "You were sleeping. I figured I'd get your work done while I could."

"You know I could have done it once I woke up." I was sitting across from him and he reached out and grasped my hand.

"Mai, you already do enough work for all of us. It's alright to take a break every once in a while." Lin explained to me. I shook my head.

"Most of the time I just do simple secretary work. It's no big deal and I don't even mind doing it." I protested and he gave a sigh.

"That's not what I meant Mai." Koujo pulled his hand from mine but we sat there a moment. "How about we work on your English?"

"But I'm not even in high school anymore. And I plan to stay in the paranormal for the rest of my life, so I get enough training from Naru and you. I passed English." I grumbled to him but stopped once I realized he was giving me an amused look.

"Mai, just because you have a job now doesn't mean you should slack in your studies. The state may have said that you can be done learning all of the basics once you leave school, but I know you have the capability to learn much more. And English is a much needed language in today's world. What if Naru and I were to go to England and take you with us? How would you communicate besides the basics if you stop learning English?" I gave a huff and nodded my head and he gave a victory smirk. Then we proceeded to sit there for many hours and work on my English skills. Naru didn't even once ask for me to bring him tea.

**A/N: Oh my gosh, guys! I'm so sorry for taking forever with this chapter. It seems writer's block likes to hit me a lot. But I have the next few chapters planned out and I hope to get on a roll with this story! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and are excited for the case to come. Oh, and yes, there' more to the nightmare Mai had but you'll have to wait for it.**


	13. The silver key

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or its characters**

A/N: I feel like a schmuck for leaving this story and you guys just sitting there. I really am sorry and I intend to do my best to keep up with this story, even if it means spending an hour a day just trying to write anything for it. Hopefully I will manage this time. I know where I am going with this story and don't plan to drag it on for too many more chapters.

_Mai's POV_

My eyes blinked heavily as the clicking of Lin's keyboard soothed me. Slowly I leaned and rested my arms onto his desk. The sun had set over two hours ago but I didn't really want to leave the comfort of the office. After the nightmare earlier that morning and the fainting spell not too long after getting in the office, I didn't feel inclined to be by myself.

"Mai, are you ready to go home?" Lin asked me but I shook my head and laid it down to rest on my arms. He gave a gentle chuckle my way but I didn't hear him resume typing. I didn't bother to look up to see why but then I felt his hand resting on my head and he started to stroke my hair. The feeling was so comforting and peaceful that I felt myself starting to drift.

"I'd say you're falling asleep." I gave a grumble in response to his words which only made him laugh at my stubbornness. "Do you not want to go home?"

"Considering all that has happened to me today…" I gave a yawn and lifted my head to meet his gaze, "I would feel rather unsafe being on my own." He gave a nod and turned back to his computer and began typing again before finally clicking his mouse and saving his documents. Then he shut the laptop down and turned to me.

"Alright, how can I make you feel better?" His words were serious and I blinked heavily in his direction. I thought about it for a moment and then blushed; giving away my thoughts so I hid my face back into my arms. "Would you feel better if more of my shiki were with you?"

"No." I mumbled from my arms. "I don't want to be alone tonight in my apartment." I heard him gasp and my cheeks only reddened. I hadn't meant it the way it had come out but I let it lay in the air between us.

"Mai….are you…" He gulped a little, losing his composure, "Are you asking me to spend the night with you?" I could only give a laugh.

"Not in that way but in short, yes, I suppose I am." I looked up at him, knowing that there would be dark circles under my eyes. I couldn't help but laugh at the expression he was making. It seemed so lost and unsure of what to do. I placed a hand on his arm while giggling. "I'd suggest you get your mind out of the gutter, Koujo. That's not going to be happening for a while." I got the deep satisfaction of seeing his face get a light red at my comment.

"I...I wasn't, well, assuming you meant…well…_that_…" He was flustered _and _stammering? That was a sight I knew I wouldn't see again for a long while. Taking my chance, I stood up and gave him a gentle kiss on his lips before pulling back.

"Well then, I'd recommend you hold your horses on that one, cowboy 'cause this girl ain't ready to release those reigns yet." I shot a wink his way, feeling very confident due to my sleepiness. Even if I had been able to see his feet, I didn't need to see them to know he had blushed from his head to his toes and I felt insanely proud of being able to do that to him. I turned and headed out of his office and to Naru's.

"I think I will be heading home soon." I stated sleepily but with a smile on my face. Naru looked up at me with a hint of concern.

"Do you feel safe being on your own tonight?" Naru asked and I let a giggle escape my throat.

"I think I've got that one covered, boss." I then got to watch as his eyes widened and stared at me. I burst out giggling, holding the side of his desk so as not to fall over from my fit of laughter. Once the giggling died down I looked at him again to see the same expression.

"Well…I certainly wasn't expecting that answer." Naru managed to say. He regained his composure but I could still see the shock in his face.

"You men have the dirtiest minds." I chastised and his eyebrow shot up at my words.

"Coming from the woman who is planning to bed with the man across the hall, those words don't mean much to me." I gasped at his statement. The smirk on his face gave away his teasing and I playfully swatted at his arm.

"You are certainly no gentleman!" I laughed and he shook his head.

"And you are no lady." He retorted and I could only laugh. I felt high from the lack of sleep and it was quite obvious to my boss. He reached up and patted my head. "Don't forget to get some sleep tonight."

"Who knew that such a pervert lay underneath that mysterious exterior of yours?" I said as I headed out of his door. I went back into Lin's office to find him packing his things together. I grabbed my items and put them all in my bag for the day. Then I turned back to my boyfriend and noticed he seemed unable to meet my gaze.

"Saddle up Cowboy, we're heading home." His blush that had died down deepened but his gaze met mine and I felt myself back up a step at its intensity. Soon Lin was standing beside me, staring down at me. He leaned down and gave me a lingering kiss on my lips and then his mouth went to my ear.

"Oh, I'm back in the saddle am I, Mai?" His breath tickled my cheek and I felt myself go red. While what he said was cliché, it didn't fail to make my heart race.

_Lin's POV_

I pulled back from Mai to see the beautiful hue of red dusting her cheeks like it had mine only moments ago. I couldn't help but let a smirk lie on my lips as she averted her gaze from mine. While I knew that nothing was going to happen later that evening, it didn't change the strange giddiness that was filling my chest.

Grabbing her soft hand, I headed toward the door. I let her out first, the warm night air hitting us. I was about to turn around and give Naru the keys to the car when I remembered that he had come to the office that morning without me. So letting go of the thought, I shut the door behind me and both Mai and I headed down the steps and too the car.

"Would you like to get something to eat before heading home?" I gently asked her. She yawned and shook her head.

"I can make something for us at the apartment but I'm afraid I will fall asleep waiting for my food if we go and eat." I nodded my head and opened the passenger side door for her. Slowly she climbed in, getting herself settled and then I shut it and headed toward my side. I wasn't extremely tired from the early morning. I was used to waking up earlier than most people due to Naru and his ability to never sleep. So I knew driving wouldn't be an issue.

I started up the car and headed toward the apartment that Naru and I stayed at. Mai gave me a quizzical look and I just smiled back at her. I certainly didn't plan on sleeping in my work clothes and then wearing those same clothes to work the next day. After a moment Mai seemed to realize that without me needing to say anything. I could only smile and grasped her hand.

"I hope I don't have another nightmare tonight." Mai commented aloud. I gave her a reassuring squeeze and parked the car and turned off the engine. Turning to her, I found her eyes to be only half open, sleeping willing her to let it take over.

"I hope so too. Now I'm heading up to gather some things. Would you like to come up or stay in the car?" She gave a shrug and I kissed her cheek. "Alright, I'm going to let you stay in the car since you seem too tired to get out of it anyways. I'm leaving one of my shiki with you. Don't unlock the doors either."

"Koujo, I know how to handle myself." She let out a sleepy giggle. "Thank you for worrying though. I'll be safe. Don't take too long."

I nodded my head and squeezed her hand once more before getting out of the car and locking its doors. I quickly ran up the steps to the apartment and unlocked the door. Flicking the lights on, I headed toward the bathroom and grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste. I looked in the mirror, hesitating on if I should take a shower or not. Deciding against it, as it would take too much time, I headed into the bedroom and grabbed an outfit for tomorrow and my sleepwear for tonight. I packed the outfits into a large bag I had and then grabbed some socks for tomorrow as well. Remembering that my hair wasn't always that amazing in the morning, I put a comb inside the bag as well.

Then I flicked off the lights and locked the door behind me. I went down the steps two at a time and got to the car to find Mai asleep in it. I unlocked it quietly and got inside. I placed the bag in the back seat and started the car, not waking the woman beside me.

_Mai's POV_

_I looked beside me to find a strange porcelain doll sitting there. She was oddly familiar but I couldn't place where I had seen her before. She was wearing a green Victorian styled dress and had two dark brunette braids hanging from her head and down her shoulders. While she was a beautiful doll I couldn't help but feel uneasy by her presence._

_Looking around me, I found I was in the office. It was incredibly quiet, not even Lin's typing filling the air. I looked at my desk, surprised to not only find no paperwork but a small silver key. It hung on a simple chain. Feeling that I had no choice, I unclasped the necklace and placed it around my neck. Instantly I felt dreadful having the thing hanging there. _

"_There is too much honey." I heard a voice beside me say. Quickly I turned to find that the doll was now staring in my direction. Her eyes weren't dead like a normal porcelain doll's eyes but were very much alive and staring pointedly at me. _

"_There is too much honey in the tea." Her little mouth moved only slightly as she stated that. I gave her a confused look and glanced down to see a cup of tea with some honey in it. The smell was absolutely nauseating and I turned my head away from the cup, holding my hand over my nose and mouth in hopes to not smell it again. _

"_With the silver key there is too much honey in the tea." The doll started to chant the phrase. I could not only hear it from the doll but somehow could hear those words in my head as well. As I continued to stare at the strange doll beside me, her mouth suddenly opened wide and engulfed me whole. _

I woke up panting and flailing about. I could feel a hand holding one of my arms down and I turned quickly while backing away. I sighed when I realized it was only Lin. He looked very concerned and continued to hold his hand out though it was no longer touching me. I looked about a little frantically to find we were still in his car and were parked outside of my apartment building.

"Mai, are you alright?" He asked me, his eyes filled with worry. I nodded my head and opened the car door and stepped out into the fresh air. I heard his car door open and shut and then quick footsteps headed over to me. Without thinking I hugged him tightly, just wanting the comfort of his arms around me, knowing I wasn't alone like I was in that dream with that god awful doll.

"Did you have another nightmare?" Lin quietly asked me and I just nodded in reply, snuggling my head into his chest. "Would you like to talk about it?" I nodded my head again and pulled back from him, feeling better. "Well, try to remember it and we'll discuss it once we get inside, okay?"

"Alright. Thank you, Koujo." I gave him a small smile and waited as he grabbed his things from the back of the car. Then, linking hands with him, we headed up the steps to my apartment. I replayed the dream over and over in my head, hoping to not forget one bit of it. I still couldn't remember the original dream but I felt this one gave me more information than the last. Information to what, I wasn't sure, but I knew that these dreams were important. That doll was trying to tell me something but I still couldn't understand what it was yet.

I pulled out my keys and unlocked the door to my apartment. Stepping in, I flicked on the light switch, squinting a little at the bright florescent light. I headed toward the kitchen to start the kettle on the stove and then I turned toward Lin to find him setting his things down beside the couch. I walked over to him and placed a hand on his arm. He gave me a smile and put his hand on top of mine.

"Would you like to get ready for bed or would you like to drink some tea first?" I asked and he glanced at his bag. Then, with a bit of a blushed, he rubbed the back of his neck in an embarrassed gesture.

"Well I was wondering if I could use your shower. I didn't want to keep you waiting in the car but I would like to be clean." Lin gave me a sheepish smile but I nodded my head.

"I don't have any manly smelling shampoos or soap, so you're going to have to live with smelling like me for a day, if you're okay with that." I teased him. A smirk came to his face and I felt heat in the pit of my stomach at the look he was giving me. Leaning down, Lin was close enough to my ear for his hair to tickle my face.

"I'd love to smell like you every single day." Then, with a quick kiss to my cheek, he grabbed his night bag and headed toward my bathroom, leaving me blushing and full of desire I didn't even know I really had.


	14. Sleepover

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or its characters**

A/N: I know it has been a long time since I updated this story but I have a direction for it now and I have inspiration for it now. Thank you guys for waiting

_Mai's POV_

The kettle went off and I quickly pulled it off the burner and grab some cups for Lin and I. Then I poured some hot water into them and put tea bags in them along with a bit of peppermint. Honey wasn't something I was going to be wanting for a long while so I needed something else to sweeten my tea a little. While the tea was steeping I leaned against the counter, going over the strange dream again in my head.

Who was this doll and why was she following me? What did she want? I could only hope that I would figure that out before she gave me another nightmare. I also couldn't figure out why honey played into this so much but it had to be important. She kept bringing it up and nearly made me sick because of it. Hopefully I wasn't cursed.

I removed the tea bags from the cups and brought them over to the coffee table in front of the couch. Sitting down I grabbed a small pad from the side-table draw and a pen from the table and started to write things down about my dream that I remembered. I underlined the parts about honey and reading it over, I decided to underline the part about the silver key and that strange chanting phrase _"With the silver key, there is too much honey in the tea."_

I looked up as Lin opened the bathroom door and came out. His hair was still drying and he had a towel draped over his shoulders. His night shirt was a deep navy blue along with the bottoms. They had white buttons and a white hem adorned both the shirt and pants. I blushed at the sight of him in such a cute outfit. It was very English nightwear.

He padded over to me, barefoot, and sat down beside me, looking at the notepad that had my dream written on it. I handed it over to him to let him read it over. While he was reading it I gently felt the material of his nightwear. It felt similar to silk and I could only imagine it was extremely comfortable to wear. It was still slightly warm from the heat of the bathroom but I knew as the night would progress it would get cold again like silk usually did.

"I wonder what the significance of the honey is…"Lin mused aloud and I could only shrug my shoulders. I leaned over and grabbed his cup form the coffee table and offered it to him. Then I grabbed my own and took a sip, allowing its heat to seep through me. It felt very comforting to have him here after that awful dream.

"I'm really not sure. Do you think someone has cast a curse on me?" I blushed at how silly it sounded but I knew that the man sitting beside me would take my question seriously. He wondered about it for a second but really had no answer.

"Since you have only had two nightmares about it and the fainting spell from earlier I really can't tell you if you are cursed." He gave me an apologetic look but I gave him a reassuring smile in return. "There isn't enough evidence that cries out 'curse' to me but there isn't enough to prove it isn't either."

"Well also she talked to me earlier today when Naru was talking to me. She kept saying she told me so. What she told me about, I'm not sure, but it was a little girl's voice." I stated and Lin wrote that down on the notepad.

"I think it would be best if we wrote everything down regarding all of this." He flipped to the next page in the notepad and started to write down words next to bullet points; words like honey, doll, little girl, silver key, and more. The word that surprised me the most was the word tea.

"Why did you write down tea?"

"Mai….tea has shown up every time something happened. I'm not sure about your first nightmare but I know that when you made Naru's tea that was when something strange started to happen and in the dream there was tea and even in her phrase there was the mentioning of tea. I think it definitely plays an important role in all of this." Lin explained to me. I nodded my head in agreement. He was right tea was important in this; just as important as the honey.

"Do you think they are clues to something?" I thought out loud. It almost felt like a mystery story to me with a touch of the supernatural mixed in.

"That's what it looks like to me. Though clues to what, I really have no idea." It seemed a bit like we would have to wait until the next nightmare to gather more information. I covered my mouth as I yawned, feeling rather tired after the day's events.

"Would you like to eat before you head to bed? You only had breakfast today." I blushed at the sorcerer's worry and nodded my head right as my stomach began to rumble. We both shared a laugh as I got up to go to the kitchen. A hand on my arm stopped me before I could go far from the couch.

"What's wrong Koujo?" I asked as I turned to him. He had stood up and walk to where I was.

"You go get changed and washed up for bed. I will make us some food." I smiled and stood on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"Alright, then, I'll do that. Do you know where everything is?" I asked, glancing at my kitchen and hoping nothing was too messy. The black haired man gave a laugh at my question and patted my head.

"Mai, I don't think your kitchen is big enough that I will get confused." I blushed and stuck my tongue out at him. "Now you go and get cleaned up and comfortable." He gave a quick kiss to my forehead and then walked into my kitchen. I gave a smile and headed toward my bedroom to gather some clothing.

I could hear Lin shuffling about in the kitchen, searching through the cabinets and draws for utensils to use. I could only imagine what it was he planned to make but I didn't much have time to dwell on the thought. So I hurried to grab my pajamas and headed toward the bathroom. Quickly I hopped into the shower and turned it on, making sure the water was nice and hot.

It felt wonderful to soothe my muscles with the heat after all that had happened that day. It felt like the day was just melting away from me with every drop of water that fell. But, sooner than I would have liked, my shower was done. I grasped the towel and dried off and then took a smaller towel and wrapped up my hair to dry. I changed into my clothes and stepped out of the bathroom and headed into the kitchen to see Lin stirring a pot.

"What are you making? It smells delicious." I had to admit, having him in my apartment felt natural and right. It also didn't hurt that he pampered me quite a bit, something I hadn't had in a long time.

"Chicken noodle soup. I figured you could use something easy and soothing to eat before heading to bed." He gave me a small smile and I couldn't help but to respond with one of my own. He was right though. A light dinner would probably be better considering my nightmares seemed to consist of sickly sweet smelling honey that made me was to puke.

"Well thank you for cooking for us." I gave him a peck on his cheek and then leaned against the counter, feeling my eyes get a little heavy from lack of sleep.

"I don't mind it." It went quiet for a minute while he stirred and I could just feel that he wanted to say something else but held back. I looked at him and noticed a very light tinge of pink on his cheeks.

"What's wrong, Koujo?" When I asked him I got to watch as his cheeks lit up just a little more and he left out a small, awkward cough.

"Um, well…" He paused and just stared at the pot that was starting to boil for a minute and then continued, "Where am I sleeping tonight?"

I couldn't help but giggle to which I received a blush and small glare from him. All I could do was laugh at how silly it seemed that he was embarrassed about asking that question. Maybe it was due to my sleepiness or the comfort of having him there but I clutched the counter with one hand and my side with the other while I started crying from laughter. It was beyond funny to me for some unknown reason.

"It's not funny." I heard him mumble and I looked through my teary eyes to see that his blush had intensified. I just laughed more, feeling my abs getting a major workout. But I heard him chuckle and then soon we were both laughing hysterically for some reason and it felt wonderful to not be quite so serious for a little while. After a while we finally calmed down and I wiped my eyes while stilling holding my now aching sides.

"I'm sorry, Koujo. I didn't mean to laugh. I just found it funny that you got so embarrassed about that question." I gave a light giggle but continued, not wanting to fall into another laughing fit. "I'm fine with you sleeping wherever really. It all depends on how comfortable you are with either sleeping on the floor, the couch, or my bed."

I took great joy in watching his face light up with a blush as I finished my statement. I honestly didn't really mind having him sleep in my bed considering that would be all that we would be doing. He didn't give me an answer as he turned off the stove and poured the soup into two bowls and found a spoon for the both of us. Then he headed to the living room and I followed suit. We sat down on my couch and started eating our soup.

"I'm…well I'm fine with either the couch or your bed." Lin stated quietly. I gave a small smile to him while eating my soup.

"Well I think I would recommend us both getting a good night's sleep and that would require a bed." I heard him choke a little on his food but he offered no protests. We finished dinner quietly and I took our bowls to the kitchen. I walked back to find him awkwardly standing in the living room waiting for me.

"Koujo, if you would feel better about sleeping on the couch then you may. But I honestly don't mind if you sleep in bed with me. There is nothing immoral about sharing a bed with someone." I headed toward my bedroom and stopped in the doorway, looking to find him still standing in the living room looking unsure. "Even if it was immoral, I don't think I'd mind anyway." I gave a wink and then sauntered into the bedroom and started slipped into bed.

"Alright but only since you are sure." His voice still sounded a little hesitant but he walked into the bedroom and settled himself into the bed. I giggled at he laid quite a distance from me and I leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips.

"Goodnight, Koujo-kun." I then flicked off the light from the lamp and snuggled into bed. My eyes closed and I fell asleep almost instantly. And almost instantly I fell into a dream.

_I looked around to find myself sitting at a table in a café. It was later in the afternoon and no one else was in the café. Even the servers were behind doors. I felt so oddly alone as I peeked outside the window to find people just walking about and cars quickly passing by the café, not even giving it a passing glance. Then I looked across from me to find the doll sitting in the booth seat. Her eyes stared at me almost impatiently, like she was really bored and mildly irritated._

"_The tea." She stated with a bored voice. Her creepy doll eyes flicked down to look at it and then flicked back up to look at me. The movement sent shivers down my spine. I never had liked porcelain dolls and them moving was beyond unnerving. _

"_What about the tea?" I asked, looking down at the amber colored liquid. Instantly I could smell it and knew the answer. I gagged and pushed it away from me, looking back at the doll._

"_There's too much honey in the tea." She stated in the same bored voice. I nodded my head in understanding. Her eyes flicked back down to look at the tea and then back up at me. I felt my pulse quicken as she stared into my eyes. I did not like this doll or its movements. Dolls shouldn't move. But I looked back down at the tea to find that in the liquid was a necklace with a silver key attached. I looked back up at her and she continued to stare into my eyes._

"_With the silver key, there is too much honey in the tea." I gulped as a sense of dread overwhelmed me and suddenly the dolls mouth opened very wide and engulfed me and my screams. _

I awoke with a start and my hand over my rapidly beating heart. I couldn't help it and felt myself start crying. The nightmare was awful and the doll made me want to run as far away as I could from it.It was the same doll as from my nightmare before and she wore the same dress and had the pigtails.

"Mai.." I gave a little shriek but then felt a hand on my shoulder and relaxed as I realized it was only Lin. I turned and cuddled myself into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and held me.

"Another nightmare?" I nodded and felt a few more tears leak from my eyes. Why couldn't this doll just leave me alone and let me sleep? Why did it have to torture me with these awful and frightening nightmares?

"She…oh god Lin she moved." I uttered when I finally felt like I would be able to speak. I pulled back a little from him to look at him. "The porcelain doll…she moved her eyes. I hate porcelain dolls when they aren't alive but this…" I shivered as I remember her eyes moving. Porcelain dolls had the creepiest eyes when they were not moving but this doll…her eyes were worse because they moved. "And there was of course more tea and too much honey. There was even the silver key mentioned again. And she said the line 'With the silver key, there is too much honey in the tea.' I don't even understand what that means!"

"What was different in the dream other than the doll moving?" Koujo rubbed my back soothingly and I leaned into him again, relaxing a little.

"Well last time we were in the office at my desk but this time we were alone in a café. And the silver key with attached to a chain and in cup with the tea instead of on a chain around my neck. Oh and I responded to her this time to ask about the tea but all she said was there was too much honey. She seemed bored and irritated. And like last time she engulfed me at the end again." I was so very tired and worn out. I just wanted to sleep but after that nightmare I wasn't sure I would be able to.

"Well then I believe there are now four significant things, the tea, the honey, the silver key, and her engulfing you." We sat there in silence for a little while longer before Koujo spoke up again, "I really am not sure what is going on but I promise we will figure it out." Then he lay back down, pulling me with him. I laid my head on his chest and my arm across his stomach. He held me close to him and somehow I managed to fall back asleep.

A/N: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I am glad I waited so long because I finally found the direction I want this story to go in and I managed to write out this chapter the way I really wanted it written. I do have to admit though, writing her dream and imagining a porcelain doll's eyes moving freaked me out. Porcelain dolls are so creepy.


	15. Early wake up call

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost hunt or its characters**

_Lin's POV_

Waking up holding Mai had to be the best way to wake up. We were both groggy when we woke and I came to the realization that Mai was not much of a morning person. She grumbled and pulled the covers closer when I tried to wake her. But I knew she would hate waking up late so I pestered her until her eyes peeked open and she glared in my direction. I couldn't help but chuckle at the sleepy anger that was on her face.

"We're going to Kagami-san's house today to set up." I gently shook her some more and she shook her head while grumbling. With a sigh, I knew what I had to do. I slipped out of the bed and walked over to her side. I gripped the blanket and quickly pulled it off, smirking as she wriggled around angrily before sitting up and glaring even more in my direction than before.

"Why do these things have to start bright and early in the morning?" She glanced at the window and sneered a little. "I take that back. It's not bright but it certainly is early." Then she sighed and moved so that her legs were hanging off the edge of the bed and she was sitting there. "What time is it anyway?"

"It's five and we need to be at the office by five forty-five." I watched as Mai rubbed her eyes tiredly and stretched, her shoulders popping. Then she got up and walked over to the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. I grabbed my clothes from the overnight bag I had brought and started to change into what I would wear to Natsu's house. It wasn't anything fancy, just the basic black pants, white long sleeved shirt and a black tie. I slipped on my socks just as Mai came out of the bathroom. She gave me a sleepy smile and headed toward her dresser while I headed toward the bathroom with my toothbrush and toothpaste.

_Normal POV_

Mai gathered her things together after getting dressed in a pair of coffee and cream colored Capri pants, an olive colored t-shirt and sneakers since she knew she would be doing a lot of walking and lifting that day. Her sleep hadn't been so great and the nightmare was creepier than the others and she could only assume it would get worse. But, not wanting to dwell too much on that, she headed out of her room to the living room where she quickly whipped up some snacks to eat on the way since they weren't going to have time to have a proper breakfast.

Then she made some tea and filled up three thermos cups with it; one for her, one for Lin, and one for Naru. After packing up everything she heard Lin emerge from the bathroom. He headed back into her bedroom and gathered his things, ready to leave. She held onto their food and drinks and they quickly left the apartment and headed to the car. It was cool outside and only a few people were out, headed toward work or walking their dogs.

Lin started the car as Mai handed him a thermos cup to drink from. It was a welcoming drink to ease them both from the lack of good sleep. Neither really said much in the car, the ride being silent and comforting to both of them. Neither felt the need to voice their emotions about spending the night together, either. It felt as if they both knew what the other thought about it and they were happy with it. And while it seemed like their relationship was taking quick steps, they didn't seemed bothered by the notion.

They arrived at SPR to find Naru starting to carry some files out to the van. Mai hopped out of the car, feeling a little more energized thanks to her tea and put her stuff in the back seat of the van. Then she, Lin, and Naru finished loading the van, not really saying much in the pleasant silence that seemed to surround them as the rays of the sun just barely peeked over the horizon. Mai could only hope that it wouldn't get too hot later in the day.

"I made some tea and put it in a thermos for you, Naru." Mai said as she handed him the drink from the backseat. He took it without saying thanks and continued to look over his files. She also passed over little onigiri she had made to Lin and Naru before munching on one herself. The trip was about an hour out to the house where Naru had already informed the others to meet up at.

"When we get to the house, I want cameras to be set up in Mikazuki's old room since a lot of activity will most likely be happening in there. We will also set up in Natsu's room. Wait for me to tell you where to set up the cameras after that but the room with the more electrical outlets will be the one where we will set up the base in." Naru explained from the front seat.

_Mai's POV_

I nodded my head to Naru's instructions but I wasn't really thinking about what he said. The nightmare was more focused on my mind though I knew I should have been thinking about the case at hand but I just couldn't get the image of the doll out of my head. What could she possibly want with me? And what was she trying to tell me? But I could only imagine I would need to have another nightmare with her to gather the pieces together.

Trying to get my mind off of the porcelain doll, I forced myself to think about the case. Natsu's sister had been murdered half a year ago and the search parties had stopped. I couldn't think of a reason for them to stop searching so soon afterward but I was sure to find out. The only thing I could hope for with this case is some answers and peace for Natsu's younger sister, Natsu's mother, and Natsu herself.

I looked out the window, taking a sip from my thermos and feeling the tea warming my body and helping shake off a little more of the sleepiness. I could only wonder how long this case was going to be and if there would be answers soon. Worryingly I thought about the doll and the nightmares she caused me. Would that interfere with this case and any dreams I may have that would help out with it? I certainly hoped not.

"Who all was able to be on the case this time, Naru?" I asked, biting back a yawn. He was still looking over the little notes he did have about the case and all the possible ways we could solve it.

"John, Monk, Ayako, and Yasuhara are able to be there, though Yasuhara will be there later in the day due to his studies. Masako is unable to come due to production issues." Naru continued to flip through his notes, looking between them and a book he had in his lap. I gave a small smile and then continued looking out the window. Naru had gotten a lot better since Koujo and I had started dating. He seemed to be more willing to put up with my questions now than when we had first met. What had calmed him down I wasn't sure of but I couldn't help but be happy for the man and hope for a friendly relationship with him from now on.

"I had another nightmare last night." I glanced at Naru who looked into the review mirror to meet my eyes. Knowing that I had his attention I continued. "I was in a café alone. There were neither servers nor other customers. The porcelain doll was sitting across from me in a sitting booth. She said 'The Tea.' and her eyes moved to look at it. This time I responded and asked her 'What about the tea?' Of course I could smell the answer and she said 'There's too much honey in the tea.' Well I looked back at the tea and in the tea was a necklace with a silver key attached to it. Then she said 'With the silver key, there's too much honey in the tea.' Then her mouth engulfed me and I woke up."

Naru sat there and thought for a minute. I tried to ignore the images that came back up from the dream. The doll moving her eyes was beyond awful to me and made me feel like I was in some awful horror movie where the doll is alive and is trying to steal your soul or something. But I left those little details out because I didn't figure Naru would want to hear about how creepy the dream was and would instead want facts.

"That was the first time in the dreams that I saw any part of her move. I don't know if that is significant but I feel it might be." I explained while shrugging my shoulders. I saw Naru nod his head, still in thought about it.

"Don't forget, Mai, you had a nightmare in the car as well." Lin reminded me and I nodded my head, doing my best to remember that dream. Naru waited for me to explain that one as well.

"I was in the office with the doll right next to me. The same necklace was on the desk and I believe I put it on. The doll said something about there being too much honey in the tea and when I looked there was a tea cup filled with tea. Then she said the same line again about 'With the silver key, there's too much honey in the tea.' Then, once again, she engulfed me." I tried to remember all the details but I had been very tired when I woke from that dream so some of them were muddy to me now.

"You've taken notes about these dreams, yes?" Naru quirked an eyebrow in my direction, ready to chastise me if I hadn't but I nodded my head. I handed him the list that Lin and I had made the night before and he quickly scanned it over before added something to it with his own pen and handing it back to me. I looked at it with confusion before meeting his eyes in the rearview mirror again.

"Both nightmares have ended the same way. There is a reason, though what it is I am not sure yet." After Naru had learned a long while ago that my dreams were actually important and could help with the cases, he took them much more seriously and was less likely to just brush them off.

"That's true." I mumbled, lost in thought about my nightmares. I took a sip of my tea again and stared out the window, noticing the harsh shadows the rising sun was making and trying to think unemotionally about my nightmare. It was a strangely difficult thing to do considering I hadn't had much sleep and the dreams were just getting more and more awful but I knew I had to look at the dreams objectively.

The rest of the trip was fairly quiet and soothing. The van's quiet hum, the sun still rising and giving a wonderful glowing light to everything, and my sleepiness made me relaxed. It helped to ease my mind from the dreams and think about other things such as what it would be like to actually be able to go to the beach instead of working for once. I would have to bring up the idea to Lin and see if he would agree to go to the beach and if we had any hopes of getting Naru to let the group go, even possibly having the narcissist come along.

-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-;-

Sleepily I stepped out of the van, looking around at the little neighborhood we had arrived in. The house we parked beside didn't stand out very much and was a very soft blue with some flowers planted following the path that led up to the door. It was two stories and I could only assume it was the Kagami house. I stood by the door, watching as Naru walked to the doorway, knocking and then waiting for the door to open.

I headed to the back of the van, pulling open one of the doors with a yawn before yanking open the other one. I grabbed two cameras from the floor of the van, seeing Lin come up beside me in my peripheral vision, and turned to him, giving a small, tired smile before heading to the front door of the house. Due to my sleepiness, the camera felt ten pounds heavier than usual.

"Welcome, Taniyama-san." Natsu greeted me at the door with a smile. She seemed relieved that we were there and I could tell she hadn't gotten too much sleep the night before. I followed her to the room where the equipment was all going and set the two cameras gently onto the floor.

"You have a wonderful home, Kagami-san." I compliment, brushing some hair out of my face while looking around the room. It was a soft, creamy beige color with white trimming in the room. There was a large window looking out into the back yard and the small forest beyond it.

"Thank you very much." She gave a small bow and left the room, her quiet feet pitter patting down the stairs. I walked over to the window, looking out into the yard to see a small play area. It had a slide, two swings and a sandbox but it looked like it hadn't been used in a while. The reason why made me sad so I turned my attention to the woods. It wasn't an overly large forest but it expanded a fair distance. I could see way off, past the woods, two buildings, one to the very far left and one to the very far right with nothing really in between.

"We'll be sleeping in the next room over." Lin said from behind me, making me jump. I put my hand over my frantically beating heart and turned to him, laughing a little.

"You scared me, Koujo." I walked over to him, helping set down some of the things he was holding. There was a couch with a coffee table in front of it in the room with two side tables on either side of the couch. I set down his laptop on the table before setting some papers beside it and then waited for him to finish setting down the rest of the things in his hands.

"Would you like to sleep after we set up today?" Koujo walked over to me, grasping me hand. I yawned, covering my mouth with my other hand, while nodding my head. Sleep would do me some wonders.

"Maybe I will actually have a good dream instead of those awful nightmares I have been having." I grumbled and felt Lin patting my head. He was gently smiling at me and I felt my heart fluttering. How had I missed going after this man and going for Naru instead? Well our first meeting hadn't been so great and he claimed to hate the Japanese but I could only look at where we were and be happy knowing we both had come far from where we started.

"Hopefully you will just get some decent sleep. Not much is usually done on the first day besides interviews and setting up so you won't be missing much. And once Takigawa-san, Matsuzaki-san, and Brown-san get here, they can help set up while you get some much needed rest." Koujo leaned down and kissed my cheek and then left the room. I followed behind him, stopping at the front door when I ran into a woman who looked to be in her late thirties with dark brown hair that was tied into a bun upon her head.

"Hello ma'am." I bowed respectfully to the woman and she gave a bow back to me. "I'm Taniyama Mai. I'm Shibuya-san's assistant."

"Welcome to my home, Taniyama-san. I'm Kagami Ayumi, the mother of Natsu and Mikazuki." She gave me a friendly smile and then walked off to finish what she was doing. I looked around, seeing the pictures on the walls. There was one with Natsu, her mother, a man with dark black hair, and Ayumi was holding a baby, who I could only assume was Mikazuki, Natsu's younger sister. They looked quite happy in that photo. Then there was one right beside it that was quite similar except Mikazuki and Natsu were older and there was a different man in the photo who had brown hair.

"The man with the black hair is my father." Natsu said from behind me, making me jump for the second time that morning. I smiled at her before looking back at the pictures. "His name was Kyosuke and our family name, when he was still alive, was Tanaka. And the man with the brown hair is my step-father, Hiroto, and our current family name is now Kagami."

"Thank you for explaining it to me. Is your step-father home at the moment?" I asked, glancing around before looking back at Natsu. She shook her head.

"He is away on a business trip. He would have never allowed us to bring an actual psychic research team in like this so my mother said to wait until he left for business before calling you out here. He doesn't really believe in ghosts and only brought the priests in to make my mother happy." The young teen explained as if it was no big deal but I could feel myself getting just a bit nervous at the idea of going behind the back of the head the household.

"Well I hope you won't get into any trouble with him." I gave a small smile to which she gave me one back.

"Mom and I don't intend to tell him unless absolutely needed. Mom feels that this is something we need, whether my step-father wants it or not." She turned to face me fully, no longer looking at the pictures. "I can lead you to her room if you would like."

"Alright but I don't want to go in if it has been undisturbed since she went missing. I would like to wait until my boss gives the final orders to go in, if you don't mind." I had a feeling Naru wouldn't appreciate me disturbing something like that so I felt it was safer to just not go in at all.

"I understand. Follow me." The black haired teen turned and walked down a hallway next to the stairs with me following right behind. She stopped at a door that was on the left side of the hallway at the end. There were cute little stickers and pictures taped to the door that were clearly put there by a young girl. I felt my eyes tear up at the notion that the family didn't have the heart to go in Mikazuki's room, much less remove the art that clung to her door.

"Did she draw these pictures herself?" I asked, touching one of the drawings that stuck to the door by tape. Natsu nodded her head but I felt my stomach start rolling and suddenly nausea quickly set in, making my stomach nearly cramp at it. I clutched my stomach, kneeling over while trying not to puke.

"_I told you." _A familiar voice rang out inside my head.

**Author's Note:** Guys, I'm so sorry for taking so long on this chapter but I wanted to get it just right before posting it. Also I would like some input from you guys. After this case, would you like me to do another case or just focus on their relationship?


	16. Eye told you

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or its characters**

Suddenly I felt claustrophobic in the hallway but I felt too sick to even get up and move so I finally fell to my knees. I could barely hear Natsu frantically asking me if I was alright before she ran down the hallway in which I assumed she was going to get someone to help. But I could pay her no mind. I felt so overwhelmed and my ears started ringing as bile started to rise up in my throat. I covered my mouth with one hand while clutching my stomach with the other. The doll's voice continued to sing into my head those awful three words.

I finally couldn't help it and puked all over the floor, feeling embarrassed as the voice was getting louder in my head. I didn't feel any better after puking and was still incredibly nauseous. So all I could do was hold my stomach and wipe furiously at my eyes that were starting to water from not only puking but wanting to cry at my predicament. Frustration built up in me as her voice started to reach a crescendo.

"What do you want?" I cried out, receiving no answer from the voice and it only made me feel more sad and sick. The voice stopped as I felt someone scooping me up but I didn't know who it was and I didn't really care. I just made sure to cover my mouth so that I wouldn't end up throwing up on them. The person carrying me set me down on cool tile and I heard a sink running. I could only assume it was the bathroom and so I felt around, not yet opening my eyes and my hand hit something porcelain that felt like the shape of a toilet so I knew it was the bathroom. I wiped at my eyes, getting the tears out of them and off my cheeks before I opened them. I looked up, expecting Lin but was much more surprised at who it was.

"Naru?" I quietly coughed out. He was wetting something in the sink but he rang it out right after I said his name and kneeled down in front of me with a cold, wet rag in his hand. He gave it to me to which I wiped off my face, enjoying the coolness of the water. "Thank you."

"Are you alright?" Naru's face held worry in it. I felt a few butterflies in my stomach lift their wings and flutter at his affection but the feeling died down soon after it started.

"I heard the doll again." I sighed and then stood up. I went to the sink and swished some water around in my mouth, knowing I would need to go searching for my toothbrush in a little bit.

"Come back to base once you've gotten cleaned up and then recount what happened." Naru left the room without so much as a goodbye but I wasn't bothered. My stomach still felt finicky but I no longer felt the extreme need to puke anymore. I looked myself over in the mirror, noticing the dark circles under my eyes. I looked ghoulish or like someone punched me under each eye.

"Are you alright, Mai?" Koujo came into the bathroom, meeting my eyes in the mirror. I smiled at him and at the butterflies that were starting to go crazy in my stomach. I nodded my head a little, turning to look up at him.

"I'm going to recount what happened in the base room, so don't worry." Then I frowned a little at the taste in my mouth. "Right after I locate my toothbrush."

"I'm not going to let you out of my sights if you're not going to be careful with yourself, Mai." The tall man jokingly said before placing a kiss to my hair, smirking as he did so.

"I know you're joking but it was the doll that did this." I explained, grasping his hand while I headed to the room we were all going to be sleeping in. I found my pack and let go of his hand to unzip it and find my toothbrush and toothpaste. Once found, I smiled and headed back to the bathroom, him right behind me. I thoroughly brushed my teeth, brushing my tongue as well to make sure I got all of the bile out of my mouth. Finally I was done and I felt myself leaning back against Lin. His arms wrapped around my waist and our eyes met in the mirror.

"Can we go to the beach once this case is done? I could really use a break from the paranormal." My request came with a slight whine but Koujo just smiled at me, chuckling under his breath.

"I don't see why not." He held me closer to him and I placed my hands over his, loving the embrace. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back to rest on his chest. The silence was inviting to me after the whole ordeal and I couldn't help but blush when I felt him place a kiss on my forehead. I made an appreciative sound and heard him chuckle in return.

"They're so cute!" I heard a voice whisper. My eyes shot open and I glared at the door, seeing Monk and Ayako's heads peeking in. They made a noise of surprise and their heads disappeared and I heard them rushing off to the base room. I shook my head, laughing a little at how normal things were starting to feel.

"We might as well get used to it." Lin sighed before releasing me and shaking his head as well. I just laughed and grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste as we headed out the door.

"I'm going to put my toothbrush and paste away, alright?" I smiled at my boyfriend and headed off to the room we would be sleeping in, hearing Lin head off to base. I opened my pack to put the toothpaste in when I felt myself get really dizzy. I steadied myself, trying to get my world to stop spinning before I felt myself dip into unconsciousness, falling easily to the floor.

_Lin's POV_

I reached the door when one of my shiki came rushing back to me. Immediately I opened the door to the base and then rushed off, knowing that whoever was in the room would follow quickly. I rushed to the room we would all be sleeping in to find Mai passed out on the floor beside her pack, her toothbrush lying beside her and the pack still open. I was beside her in an instant and putting her on one of the made up beds on the floor.

Ayako rushed in and was right beside Mai checking her vitals. Mai looked flushed a little but I informed the priestess that she had just recently thrown up, which only seemed to worry the redheaded woman more than she already was. But she seemed to relax a little once the short examination was done. It seemed mostly everything looked okay to her.

"Mai said the doll made her throw up." I said out loud when Naru came in. Ayako gave me a strange look and I remembered that only Naru, Mai, and I knew about her strange nightmares. I would fill the priestess in later.

"I see." Was the only response that Naru gave me in return. I could tell he was just as worried as I was about the whole situation.

"Her vitals are fine and she didn't seem to hurt herself when she passed out. The only thing off is that she seems a bit clammy and pale but Lin informed that was because she had recently thrown up." Ayako informed the SPR boss. He gave a noise of affirmation toward her before leaving the room. She then turned her eyes on to me. "Lin, what is this doll you are talking about?"

"She's been having nightmares about a doll." Monk and John were both in the room now (having followed Naru in) and their eyes were staring intently at me. "The doll keeps showing up and saying that there is too much honey in the tea and there is a silver key attached to a necklace that ends up in every dream Mai has with this doll. The doll also says 'With the silver key, there's too much honey in the tea' and after she says that, the doll apparently opens her mouth and engulfs Mai, waking her from the dream."

"So how do you think the doll made her throw up?" Monk asked and I sat down beside Mai, hoping that her newest nightmare wouldn't be that bad.

"The first reaction she seemed to have to the nightmares was actually yesterday at work. She made Naru and I some tea but for some reason there was no honey in our tea. She swore she put some in there and when she headed to the kitchen to grab it, she fainted. The mere thought of honey seems to make her feel sick now. So I am going to assume that the doll overwhelmed her with the smell of honey." I explained, angry that this whole situation was going on.

"The doll can do that?" John asked, surprised and disturbed. I nodded.

"Apparently, while awake, the doll will say 'I told you' to her. It seems to be able to communicate with her outside of the spiritual plane and influence her in such a manner." I went to hold Mai's hand only to notice how clammy it actually was. I looked at her face to find it scrunched up and clearly distressed. She was lightly covered in perspiration and her breathing was quickening. Ayako checked her pulse to find her heart rapidly beating. The beats per minute seemed to speed up and I knew what was going to happen. Suddenly she shot up from her position, eyes wide open and her hand was placed over her heart.

"Mai, are you alright?" Monk put a hand on her shoulder while she took deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.

"Was it worse this time, Mai?" I quietly asked. Her head turned toward me and she nodded her head, tears filling her eyes. She wrapped her hands around my waist, starting to cry and I held her close, wishing I knew what to do. She finally calmed down and pulled back from me, wiping her eyes and looking at me and then the rest of the group.

"We were alone again but with just blackness around us. I couldn't move. She just stared at me, a small knife in her hand and…"Mai shivered at the memory of the dream before continuing, "She moved this time. It felt like she took my ability to move and gave it to herself. She…oh god…" A sob filled her throat and I grasped her hand to which she squeezed tightly. "She cut out my eyes. I could feel it…all of it."

The room was completely silent. None of us were sure what to make of this new information. It was unlike any of the dreams she had been having. This was much worse than I imagined. I gently pulled her to me, feeling very worried but doing my best not to show it and to comfort her instead. She hugged me, trembling in my arms as I rubbed her back, trying to soothe her any way I knew how.

"Was there any tea or honey or anything from the other dreams?" I quietly asked her. She paused, trying to remember before nodding her head.

"I could smell honey very strongly and the doll wore the silver key necklace around her neck." Mai explained to me and I nodded my head while still holding her to me. Then I felt the monk join in on the hug. Ayako laughed at the sight and hugged on my other side and John patted Mai's head, noting how uncomfortable I was with the two additions to the hugging.

"It'll be alright, Mai. We'll figure this out. We always do." Takigawa said. Ayako and John gave words of agreement and it seemed Mai had calmed down. The monk and priestess finally let go of me to which my relief was clearly evident. The lovely woman in my arms also let go of me and gave a small smile to everyone.

"Thanks guys. You really know how to make a girl feel better." Mai completely detached herself from me and stood up, to which I followed suit. She swayed a little, placing a hand on my arm to steady herself. I placed my hand on her lower back, hoping to steady her some more.

"I think we should all head to the base room and there we can all learn what is going on." Takigawa suggested and I felt myself nodding along with the blonde monk. John, Ayako, and Takigawa left the room, leaving Mai and I behind. I looked down at her, my lips automatically forming a small smile at the mere presence of her beside me.

"Sorry about all of this, Koujo." Mai apologized sheepishly, a blush forming on her cheeks. She was going to continue with more apologies but I leaned down and silence her with a chaste kiss. I only pulled away a little to look in her eyes. I was pretty sure her blush went all the way to her toes but I wasn't going to break eye contact with her to check.

"No apologizing for things like that, Mai." My voice was quiet but held finality in it. I could feel such a strange sensation in my stomach at kissing Mai; butterflies in my stomach I believe is what Mai would call it. I felt I could easily kiss her all day and night. It was a very new feeling for me but one I relished in.

_Mai's POV_

My heart was beating quickly as I stared into Lin's eyes. He had just kissed me and on the lips, no less! I could feel my stomach doing flips and if I weren't so shocked, I would have been smiling. But I nodded my head to Koujo's instructions and he gave me a smirk in return. I felt a small giggle rising up my throat but it didn't escape.

"Now would you like to head to the base since you're done apologizing for things you have no control over?" Lin teased and I stuck my tongue out at him in retaliation. He quirked an eyebrow at me but shook his head and started to leave the room. I grasped his sleeve and he turned back to me but before he could say anything I leaned in and gave him another kiss, a bit longer than the one I just received. We pulled back from each other but I didn't open my eyes due to the blush the clung to my face.

"Mai…" His voice was quiet, deep, and alluring and I just had to respond so I opened my eyes. He was smirking and I giggled before letting out a quiet "yes?" in reply.

"If you keep this up I don't think we'll ever make it to the base room." His tone told me what his words did not and my heart took off like a racehorse and I felt like it was going to fly out of my chest at the rate it was going. My stomach twisted and turned at his implications. "I certainly wouldn't mind but I don't think you'd like the others walking in on us."

"Alright, let's go to base!" I could take no more of his words and a giggle burst through my lips that spoke volumes of what his words were doing to me and the nervousness I felt. I quickly hurried to the door, not bothering to worry about the slight dizziness I felt and headed out of the room toward base, the black haired man chuckling while following behind me.

We reached base and I got a few raised eyebrows at my red face but no one asked anything. Ayako gave a pointed look toward Lin but the man just smirked and headed toward the computers. I sat down next to John on the couch and he gave me an inviting smile. I sat in silence, calming myself down before I recounted to the all the nightmares I had been having and all that had happened in the hallway. No one was quite sure what to make of it but they gave me comforting words and I felt myself relaxing for the first time in a while.

"Alright, let's set up the cameras in the last room, Mikazuki's." Naru ordered. I went to stand up but Naru shook his head so I sat down, mildly confused. "I don't need you passing out again or throwing up so for the time being I'd like you to stay put."

Monk took the equipment and headed toward the room. I sat beside Lin, wanting to see the room and how it looked. I heard the blonde monk's voice in the headset and the door squeak open from lack of use. There was a gasp from the mother who had led him to the room but she said nothing and shut the door. Soon the TV picked up the video feed and we finally saw what the room looked like. It was a normal little girl's bedroom and nothing seemed unusual but then there was a knock at the base door and Ayumi came into the room.

"What's wrong, Kagami-san?" I asked, leading the shaking woman over to the couch. She sat down, wringing her hands together.

"The toys on the floor of her room weren't there the day she went missing. I remember picking up her room that day and cleaning everything up. The bed is messed up like someone has been lying in it and there are clothes on the floor that weren't there before." The poor woman seemed like she was going to start crying. I grasped her hand and she squeezed mine tightly for comfort.

"Thank you, Kagami-san, we appreciate the information. I promise we will get to the bottom of this and will help your daughter move on." Naru said and, though his words were meant to be comforting, Ayumi seemed to draw little comfort from them. She stood, leaving the room and shutting the door behind her. Monk came in quickly after she left.

"It she alright?" Monk asked and Naru relayed the information to him before going back to his computer and researching. The rest of the day passed uneventfully and Natsu served us egg drop soup for lunch. It was only two hours after lunch that Yasuhara arrived and came to give us a little more information.

"There wasn't too much to find on Hiroto Kagami except that he works for a small IT business as their accountant. I could find no records of him being previously married. His wife, Ayumi Kagami doesn't have much information on her either. She met her current husband because she had some computer problems and brought it to the shop where they bumped into each other on his way to lunch. According to his coworkers, he asked her to a lunch date and that was the start of their relationship. They seem like a relatively small and normal family to me. No one I spoke to said that they could imagine either Ayumi or Hiroto having any enemies who would kidnap his daughter. Apparently, according to record, three children have gotten lost in that forest over the last thirty years so I think this may just be a case of a little girl not wanting to move on." He gave as much information as he could but it didn't really help our case very much. I yawned, feeling quite sleepy. I didn't want to head to sleep just then for fear of another nightmare so I stood up, intending to go and walk the grounds of the home.

"I'm going to go outside for some fresh air." I said and Monk quickly jumped up, offering to come with me. I didn't protest, knowing that Naru would send someone to go with me either which way. In silence the two of us headed outside and I sat on the small porch in the backyard with monk sitting right next to me.

"I already know Ayako talked to you about the whole dating thing, so I'm sure you don't want to hear it again." I stifled the groan that rose in my throat at his words. I was no longer a young sixteen year old girl. I was an adult now and could handle myself but I knew he only worried so I said nothing instead. "But Mai, I want you to know I'm here if you need to talk. I know you probably won't want to tell me everything but just know that I'm willing to listen if you need someone to, okay?"

"Thanks Monk, I appreciate it." While I wanted to be treated like an adult now by everyone and no longer like the kid they met in the beginning, I could help but feel comforted by Takigawa's care. He really was like an older brother to me and I knew he was someone I would be able to count on to steer me in the right direction if I was veering too far off course.

"I am curious though…" The blonde man paused and gave me a look but I said nothing, waiting for him to continue. "Why, Lin? I thought you had a thing for Naru."

"I did but I couldn't very well spend all of my time pining away for the man. He and I have a difficult enough time as it is with friendship. He lacks emotion where I need it in a relationship. Koujo has always been attractive to me and as we became friends, I saw a completely different side of him. He's emotional and cares deeply for things but he's just quiet about it. I feel so happy around him. And I know that we're in the early stages right now but it feels right to be near him, you know?" I blushed, knowing I had said much more than I had intended to but I knew that Houshou wouldn't judge. He patted my head, smiling.

"You do seem pretty happy, aside from the whole nightmare situation going on. I'm glad to know he isn't like Naru." Monk's voice went quiet near the end but I could tell he was hesitant to say what he was thinking, so I waited to see if he would finish his thoughts out loud. "I just…if he hurts you Mai, so help me he will have a hefty price to pay. We all saw what happened to you when Naru rejected you and I refuse to let someone do that to you again. Naru only got away with it because you wouldn't let me beat him into a pulp."

I giggled as the monk muttered on about the nerve of Naru and how he was an egotistical jerk. Then full out laughter started as I realized he sounded a lot like I did when I got angry about something the blue eyed boss of ours did. Now I understood why my anger was so amusing to the others. Houshou started laughing along with me and after a while our amusement died down and we sat in silence with smiles on our faces. As hectic as things were around me most of the time, so long as SPR was there and the rest of the gang, I felt like I was at home again and that I had a family I could rely on whenever I needed it.

**A/N:** Well this chapter was longer than I was expecting it to be. I have decided that after this case, I will focus a little more on the relationship before starting up another case for them to go on. But don't fret! This most certainly isn't their last case and I have quite a few surprises in store for you guys with future chapters.


	17. Failed Cleansings of a Plush Horse

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or its characters**

**A/N: **I just wanted to give a quick thanks to everyone who has reviewed, subscribed, or favorite this story. Your support really helps out and inspires me to keep up with this story so thank you!

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The rest of the evening was uneventful but I could feel my eyelids getting heavy due to my lack of quality sleep. I was quite a bit afraid of actually going back to sleep after the latest nightmare but I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold out much long and I would succumb to the tiredness. Finally I gave up the fight and stood from the couch, stretching and giving a long yawn.

"I'm going to head off to bed now." I walked over to Lin, who was still at the monitors, and placed a kiss to his cheek. He gave me a smile and squeezed my hand before saying goodnight to me. Ayako stood, deciding to follow me to the room we were all sleeping in, not wanting to leave me on my own. I knew it wouldn't be too long until the others followed and would head to bed. There weren't too many cases where we would all be asleep in the same room but this just happened to be one and, considering all the nightmares I had been having, I certainly wasn't complaining.

"Are you feeling better from earlier, Mai?" The redheaded priestess asked me gently. I gave her a smile and nodded my head, grabbed my sleepwear from my pack and headed into the bathroom to change. I had taken my toothbrush as well and shut the door to the bathroom, changing slowly and brushing my teeth just as slow due to my sleepiness. I really hoped that I would go without a dream for at least one night. I got back to the room to find that Ayako had set up a room divider using a divider that one would change behind. I giggled but understood why she did it. My sleeping bag was set up next to hers and I hurriedly snuggled into it, appreciating its warmth.

I could tell Ayako had a lot that she wanted to ask me about my relationship with Lin but I just wasn't going to be able to concentrate on a conversation while being so comfortable and tired. The woman could easily tell I wanted to sleep so she just gave me a smile and watched as I started to drift off slowly. I could feel my body and mind fighting it but as I finally felt my eyes close, finding them too heavy to open again, I was swept off into a deep sleep; one that had no dreams.

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I could faintly hear two voices from the hallway as I woke from my sleep. I gave a quiet groan at the bright sunshine coming in from the window and covered my eyes, trying to determine just what time it was. The voices in the hall sounded like a quiet argument but my hazy mind couldn't quite make out what they were saying to each other. It sounded like two men.

"Lin, need I remind you it is already ten in the morning and I don't pay you all to sleep?" I quickly determined whose voice _that_ was. I finally looked about the room, my eyes having gotten relatively used to the light, and found I was the only one in it. It seemed that I slept way past wakeup call.

"And need I remind you, Naru, that these past two days have been quite stressful for her?" I heard Lin retort and I gave a small smile. So they were arguing about me sleeping in. Naru was such a hard ass but I did agree, it was time to get up. So I got up and headed over to the door, opening it and looking at the two men sleepily.

"Don't worry, I'm up." My voice was flat as I looked right at Naru with annoyance in my eyes. He just turned and left the hallway, saying nothing to either of us. I turned back to my boyfriend and gave a smile. "Good morning, Koujo."

"Good morning, Mai." Lin stepped in the door, leaving it a little open behind us so that the others wouldn't get too suspicious. The tall, dark haired man was already in a nice outfit and looked well rested. I had a feeling I looked a bit silly in my pajamas but I didn't mind considering he had slept in a bed with me the other night. But he placed a kiss on my forehead and smiled back at me just a bit.

"So why was I being fought about?" I laughed while rummaging through my pack to find some clothing for the day and my toothbrush, toothpaste, and hairbrush. After all of the sleep I had gotten the night before, I felt very refreshed and actually in a great mood, all things considered.

"Naru was telling me to wake you. I wasn't going to." Koujo shrugged, trying not to show the irritation he had toward our boss. I knew all too well how easy it was to want to bash Naru's head in, so the fact that Lin could hide his irritation so well impressed me but didn't surprise me. Finally having found my items, I gathered them into my arms and got up from the floor, turning to face my boyfriend.

"Well thank you for letting me sleep in. I really needed it." I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek before heading for the door. Lin grabbed my hand and stopped me. I turned to look at him, seeing concern etched onto his face.

"Did you have any dreams last night?" His voice was quiet but I smiled, the butterflies starting up in my stomach at his worry. I gave his hand a gentle squeeze and shook my head.

"Nope, I slept soundly throughout the night." He gave a nod at my answer, the concern leaving his face and relief replacing it. It made me happy to know how worried he was about me. To think we hadn't been together that long but already we had such a connection. But we had known each other for years so I supposed that had to contribute to our relationship, not that I was complaining either which way.

"We had some activity last night but I will tell you more about it once you are done getting ready." Koujo's smirk at my attire had me blushing and I glanced down. It was simple nightwear, long pants and a short-sleeved button up night shirt that was a pale pink so I had nothing to be embarrassed about yet the look on his face had me giggling nervously.

I hurried out of the room, hearing him chuckle behind me, and I scurried to the bathroom, shutting the door quickly and smiling like a school girl. I got myself ready in almost no time. I was now wearing a pair of denim capris and a light blue shirt. Luckily my hair wasn't messy from sleep so I knew that I didn't look like a complete mess when Lin saw me and my teeth were brushed. I dropped my stuff back into my pack and hurried to the base room.

"Morning guys." I greeted everyone and they all returned the gesture. Yasuhara wasn't there but I knew he was back in school for the day and would be back later if he was needed.

"So what happened while I was asleep last night?" I asked as I took a seat next to Lin. He was playing back a video tape and taking notes when I sat down next to him. He played the video and put the headphones on me. I could see a small plush horse being gently moved back and forth on the bed while a little girl's voice quietly cried. He took the headphones off of me and set them on the table.

"Since everyone else had already seen the video I wanted to show you it as well so that you knew what was going on." I smiled at him and then heard my stomach grumble. He laughed and I blushed. "The others have eaten already, so would you like to get some food? Kagami-san made enough for you as well and said she left it in the fridge. I believe she is still in the kitchen."

"Thank you, I think I will go eat." I smiled at him before getting up and heading downstairs to get some food. As Lin had said, Kagami-san was still in the kitchen, cleaning up.

"Good morning, Taniyama-san. Are you feeling better?" I assumed she was talking about me being sick yesterday so I gave her a yes in reply. "Well I made some broiled salted salmon and miso soup if you would like to have some."

"Thank you, Kagami-san. I would love some." She ushered me to sit down at the table and she heated up the food for me before setting it down in front of me. She sat across from me while I ate.

"I appreciate SPR coming to help my family out. I just want my little Mikazuki to rest in peace." Ayumi wrung her hands together and I could tell that she was trying not to cry. I finished chewing my food before I answered her.

"We're glad to come and help you out. Actually, since we are here, I was wondering if you could tell me all that has been happening in your home. Your daughter, Natsu-san, has informed us of many of the things but we like to get everyone's side of the story." She nodded her head and I went back to eating while she started to speak.

"When walking around the house I will often times hear faint crying coming from my youngest daughter's room. Even when I am in bed I will be able to hear her crying and all I want is for it to stop. But when she stops, it doesn't fade off but seems to become choked off as if she is being forced to stop making noise." The distraught mother took a couple of deep breaths, calming herself down before continuing. "Taniyama-san, I have something I need to tell you. I haven't told your boss but my daughter feels I should at least tell you."

"You may tell me anything you need to, Kagami-san." I placed my chopsticks down, all of my attention focused on the woman talking to me. She seemed very serious and worried about whatever it was she was going to say next.

"I dreamt you were coming here and you told me you would meet my daughter, Mikazuki." Her statement was said very quietly but the woman was adamant about her statement. I, on the other hand, was unsure of how to take what she said to me.

"Are you sure it was me, Kagami-san?" I hesitantly asked, hoping I wouldn't offend the woman by asking her to verify what she said.

"You told me who you were in the dream. I had this dream a month ago, long before I searched out your services." Ayumi gave me a small smile and I gave one back though I could feel my heart racing a little.

"May I ask why you haven't told Shibuya-san?" I had gotten into the habit of calling Naru that so that I wouldn't always have to explain to clients my nickname for the man.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't think he will believe me. But my daughter told me she had a feeling about you and that she felt you were a trustworthy person. I hope I haven't scared you by telling you these things." At least I now knew why Natsu had said that strange statement to me when she met me in the office about me meeting her sister.

"My boss will believe you completely, Kagami-san. If there is anything else you know or have had happen that would help with the case you can feel free to tell any of us about it. We'll be sure to help you out in any way we can." She nodded her head and I finished up the last bit of my breakfast. "Thank you for breakfast. Would you mind if I went and got my boss for you?"

"I don't mind. I should have told him from the start. Thank you for listening to me." She got up and rinsed off the dishes while I headed back into the base and got Naru's attention.

"What is it, Mai?" His eyebrow was slightly raised while he waited for me to say what was on my mind.

"Kagami-san has some information for you that I think you'll want to hear." I knew he would have pestered me to tell him but Naru could tell I looked a bit uncomfortable about the entire situation so he got up and went downstairs to talk to the lady of the house. I took a seat on the couch where I noticed everyone looking at me questioningly.

"What did she tell you, Mai?" John asked. They all seemed concerned for me and I smiled, feeling a bit better. I settled into the couch, enjoying how soft it was.

"She said that she had a dream about me a month before I came here and that in the dream I told her I would meet her daughter. She assured me that it was me in her dream because I told her my name and I looked like the woman in the dream." It wasn't much to explain but the case had now taken a turn for the stranger, not that it was unusual for cases to get weird when I was involved in them.

"Do you remember having any dreams where you told a lady that you would meet her daughter?" Lin asked me and I shook my head. Ever since I had started working at SPR my regular dreams had died down and I mostly only dreamed of things involving cases or, more recently, what seemed to be hexes/curses.

"Do you think she might have slight psychic abilities?" Monk asked but I could only shrug my shoulders.

"Has Naru said anything about cleansing the room yet?" I asked and John wasn't sure. I was about to ask to go to see the room when Naru came back in.

"Did you have any dreams-" I cut him off with a shake of my head. He looked a little annoyed that I didn't let him finish but when Lin shook his head as well, indicating that he had already asked the same question, Naru let it go. He sat down and Lin started typing into a laptop the new information that Naru started to tell him.

Later in the day Naru told Ayako to perform a cleansing in the room and that we would wait to see if any changes occur. Yasuhara didn't come back and Naru told us that the young man was still researching the case, seeing if he could dig up anything else about it and about Ayumi Kagami to see if she was known for having any psychic abilities. So far nothing had come up. But, when the sun had started to go down, we all waited with baited breath for most of the evening to see if Ayako's cleansing had worked. Sadly it didn't, indicated by the random crying we heard a few times, so Monk was next in trying to help the spirit move on.

"Can I listen as well?" I asked Lin and he nodded, hooking up another headset and letting me use it. Naru had protested a little but Ayako shushed him, saying it was cute and that Lin had everything covered and to not worry so much about everything. I couldn't help but to agree with her on all fronts. So our boss let it go and sulkily sat there watching the screens.

For a while all we heard was Monk's chanting as he attempted to rid the spirit from the room. The temperature was dropping quickly the more Monk chanted and the plush horse started to move quicker than it had the other night. Suddenly the blonde man stopped chanting and covered his mouth and nose, a look of disgust filling his face. A sense of dread filled me as I watched him kneel a little on the floor, clearly feeling very sick. The sound was very quiet except for the groans of nausea coming from the man inside the room. Then it suddenly went completely silent and Lin and I strained to listen.

"I told you." A voice whispered into the microphone.

**A/N:** Alright, so I know this is a decent bit shorter than last chapter but I enjoy where I ended it (I love cliffhangers, sorry!) and I promise that the case will come more together in the upcoming chapters. This story has continued farther than I thought but I am enjoying it and will continue to add chapters after this case is done. Until next time!


	18. A piece of the puzzle

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or its characters. **

_Lin's POV_

I quickly turned to see Mai throw off the headphones as if they had burned her. Even my heart was racing quite a bit upon hearing that creepy voice. Mai's hand covered her mouth and tears were in her eyes. These dreams and this creepy doll bothered her more than she had let on. But I turned to look back at the screen. Monk was breathing heavily, now that I could finally hear him, and was no longer covering his nose and mouth. The temperature in the room was back to a normal level and the plush horse had stopped all movements.

"You can come back in, Takigawa-san." I voiced into the microphone. I saw the man nod his head and leave the room. I took off the headphones and looked over at Mai who was still staring at the screen with tears in her eyes. Everyone was looking at the both of us, concerned. "Was that the voice?"

Her head bobbed in a nod and she finally turned to look over at me. Fear was in her eyes and she was shaking. I could easily tell she was trying not to cry and I couldn't take that look, so I pulled her into a hug. I knew it was rather uncharacteristic of me to display this type of emotion in front of an audience but I didn't care. This damned doll was causing way too many problems and I wasn't just going to let Mai sit there and cry about it. But my hug broke the dam and I felt her tears on my shirt and could hear her heavy breathing as she tried to hold back sobs.

"Lin, what happened?" I looked up at Naru to see that he was rather concerned for Mai too.

"We heard the doll's voice." He nodded, knowing to ask more questions later. Monk finally returned to the room, looking a little flushed from what I assumed to be a horrid smell of honey. I wasn't quite sure how the doll could make the smell of honey sickening but it seemed to be able to do it with ease. I could hear Ayako explaining what had happened when the Monk asked why Mai was crying.

"Thank you, Koujo." Mai said quietly, pulling back from me. I looked down at her, watching as she wiped the tears from her cheeks and gave me a weak smile. I gave her a small smile back, which seemed to calm her down. She looked over to find Monk staring at her and she blushed, remembering it wasn't just the two of us in the room.

"I smelled the honey, Mai." Monk said while coming over to the two of us. She nodded, still lightly blushing. He rubbed her hair affectionately, giving her a smile. "We'll figure this out, don't worry."

"Thanks, Monk." Mai smiled up at the man. I felt no jealousy toward him. He was like her older brother, not at all a rival to me. It actually made me feel better knowing Mai had the whole SPR group watching over her. With her ability to attract trouble, she needed all the watchful eyes she could get.

"Is there any activity still going on in the room?" Monk turned his attention over to me and I looked at the screens before shaking my head. It seemed after the doll said her little catchphrase, all of the activity went away. "Well then, I think we should all turn in for the night. Clearly we have our work cut out for us on this one and I think a little more research is due."

"I agree. I think we have had enough of Mikazuki and her creepy doll for tonight." Ayako said, while standing up. John got up as well, nodding in agreement with the monk and priestess. Naru was sitting on the couch and I knew he had no intention of going to sleep any time soon. I didn't either, considering how much work there was to do on this case.

"I am going to stay up a while longer. I don't think I'll be able to sleep after that." Mai explained to the priestess. The two held eye contact for a while before Ayako turned her gaze toward me. I could easily see what she was trying to say, her motherly instinct kicking in, but I held her gaze until she looked away. Takigawa and John had already left the room and, once she broke the staring contest she was having with me, Ayako left as well.

"Lin, I'd like to listen to the recording." Naru said, getting up from his seat and walking over to me. I unhooked Mai's headphones and then handed mine to him. Getting up from my chair, and him sitting in it, Mai followed me to the couch, curling up on it and snuggling into my side. I draped my arm over her shoulder's gently holding her to me.

"It's strange…" She started, watching the screen playing over Monk's cleansing. I stared down at her, noticing the concentrated look in her eyes. "The nightmares with the doll happened before Natsu came to us with this case."

I didn't reply. She was right. I hadn't even thought of that because I was so preoccupied with comforting the brunette. So many questions were now on the table. How did the doll relate to the case? Was Mikazuki possessing the doll? Did the doll just happen to interrupt our cleansing process and actually had no relevance to the case at hand? I shook my head at the last question. That happening was so unlikely that it wasn't even worth considering.

"Maybe we should ask Natsu or Ayumi if Mikazuki was known for playing practical jokes." Mai paused and I could tell she had another thought running through her head. I held her a little closer, urging her to continue. "But I don't think that Mikazuki is the one in my nightmares, Koujo. It just doesn't feel like her."

I nodded, knowing to take Mai's intuition seriously. I noticed the headphones were sitting around Naru's neck. He had been listening to us this entire time and was taking notes. I watched as he finished writing and swiveled around in the chair, pausing the video while doing so, and looked at Mai. I knew that he too cared for Mai but, and it felt so strange to me, I was jealous of him unlike with the monk. I knew to be wary of him, regardless of his "blessing" or actions. It was easy to tell that he felt _something_ for what was now mine, even if he couldn't pinpoint what that something was.

"Does the entity feel sinister to you?" Naru asked and I looked at Mai to see her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth pursed in concentration.

"The entity feels…" Mai paused, trying to find the right words to explain how the doll felt to her. "Well they feels irritated at my lack of understanding. Even in the latest dream with the doll removing my eyes, it felt more like it was showing rather than doing. The doll seems to be angry but it feels like she or he is trying to tell me something without actually being able to say it."

"What makes you so sure that the entity isn't Mikazuki?" I glanced back over to see a very concentrated look on Naru's face. It was easy to see the concern that was underneath the seriousness. He hid it very well but I knew him much better than most.

"I'm not sure, I suppose. But it just doesn't feel like it. I…" Mai paused, frustration filling her face. "I can't explain it but somehow I just feel that the doll in my dreams isn't her."

_Mai's POV_

How could I explain to him that the entity in my dreams didn't feel like a young girl but like someone who was much older than Mikazuki? It was clearly someone who was trying to tell me something without just outright saying it. Though why the spirit or entity couldn't just tell me what they wanted was beyond me. Putting it in such a riddling format was rather bothersome.

"Just trust me on this, Naru. I'm pretty close to positive that it isn't her." I made sure to hold my voice steady. While I knew Naru took my intuition seriously, he didn't always completely trust me. They were my dreams. It wasn't like he could see them. So why he wouldn't believe me about them, I didn't know. I suppose it was just in the nature of Oliver Davis to question everything.

"Tomorrow I want you to go down to her room again and go in so we can see if there is anything from your dreams in there or something that will stand out to you." He swiveled back around and placed the headphones on his ears. I just rolled my eyes at him before turning to the man I was snuggled up against. He smelled quite lovely and was incredibly warm. It was nice how sweet he was with me.

"If we went to the beach, you would join me in swimming, right?" I asked. Though the conversation had happened a while ago about the beach, it was still something that I really wanted to do. I saw, as he looked back down at me, a smirk evident on his face.

"I would be crazy man not to." I tilted my head a little in confusion and he leaned down toward my ear. "Tell me, Mai, why would I pass up the opportunity to be near you while we are both quite underdressed?"

"Koujo!" I lightly smacked him on the arm. I could feel myself blushing from my head to my toes. He let out a deep chuckle, only making the butterflies in my stomach flutter more. I couldn't believe he had just said that. He had been flirty all day with me and it was making my stomach twist in excited knots.

"You would be covered in water, your swimsuit clinging to you along with your hair. If I am a lucky man, you'd even let me hold you like that." To put emphasis on his statement, my dark haired boyfriend pulled me a little closer to him. My heart was beating erratically and somehow my blush managed to intensify. It felt like my breath had caught in my throat and I felt giddy and rather nervous.

"Koujo." I tried to make my tone to me mildly scolding but it just came out a breathless whisper of his name. He chuckled again, giving a warm feeling to the pit of my stomach before moving himself away from my ear only to lean in and give me a quick kiss to the lips. I kissed back, my hands shaking a little in excitement and nervousness.

"Lin, Mai," Naru's voice made me jump and I didn't look over to see if he was looking at us, embarrassed at being caught. "I don't pay you two to make out on the couch." I giggled a little and saw Lin just shaking his head. He stood up and headed over to the desk and grabbed his laptop before sitting back down next to me and waking it from sleep. There were a few documents open along with a couple of web pages. They all pertained to the case at hand except for one that was labeled "Mai's dreams."

I snuggled up against him as the grey eyed man started to type away. The sound was soothing and I could feel my eyelids getting heavier as time went on. I bit back a few yawns, not wanting to head to bed just then. I enjoyed the silence that filled the room. It was comfortable and felt right. As much as I adored the others in our group, being in the room with only Lin and Naru felt different to me. I was close with the others, except for Masako, but there was a different sort of camaraderie between Naru, Lin, and myself. We were a different group when it was just us and no one else.

I felt myself blinking a lot more, trying to stay awake, until finally my eyes closed and I relaxed. I knew it wouldn't be long until I fell asleep unless someone deliberately woke me. But I didn't think that was going to happen in this room. Naru was preoccupied and Koujo was focused on filling in the latest details of the case. His typing was almost rhythmic to my ears and soon I succumbed to sleeping, loving the warmth of the body next to me.

_I looked about me, realizing I was in the kitchen of someone's house, though I wasn't sure whose. It wasn't too large and when I looked to the side I could see a nice living room and the base of a set of stairs. The sun shone into the room and silence settled in. I was seated on a stool that sat in front of an island counter in the kitchen. Looking down, I found a cup of tea in front of me. I bit back a groan of irritation. Not this again. _

"_I told you." I looked to find the doll sitting on the counter. Her hair was tied in two braids that settled over her shoulders. The glassy blue eyes held a life in them that shouldn't have been there. She was staring at me. _

"_Yeah, yeah, I know. There's too much honey in the tea. I get it." I grumbled, smelling the honey. I did my best not to react to the smell, though it did make my stomach feel sick. But I kept eye contact with the doll. If the dreams didn't change, I wouldn't find anything else out. _

"_And the silver key?" She asked me, seeing if I remembered about that as well. The key was sitting around her neck, reminding me of the nightmare before. There had to be something important about all of those things but I just couldn't place what. _

"_Why all these riddles? Why don't you just tell me what you want to say?" I let the irritation slip into my voice and felt a shiver roll down my spine when the doll glared at me. The narrowing of her eyes made my heart race faster than it had before. There was something sinister about that look but I couldn't place what it was. But my fear of that doll only increased when I saw her stand up and jump to the island counter to stand in front of me. It was wrong on so many levels to see a porcelain doll like that move. Her eyes continued to glare at me. _

"_With the silver key," She paused, leaning down to pick up a small knife sitting nearby before turning to look at me again, "There's too much honey," She got closer to me and I couldn't seem to move, "In the tea." And, like in the last dream, she began to cut out my eyes, me being unable to move and I had to feel the pain. There was darkness but I could still feel her presence nearby. _

"_And now," She paused, though for what I wasn't sure, "You can't see." And then there was that awful feeling of being engulfed._

"Mai!" I jolted awake and quickly my hands went to my eyes, feeling no blood and realizing I could see. My heart felt like it was moving at a hundred miles a minutes and I could feel myself shaking almost violently. I looked in front of me, finding Naru's face filled with concern and curiosity. Turning a little I found Koujo looking at me as well.

"Did you have another dream?" Lin's quiet voice asked. I nodded, feeling a little dazed and bothered by this newest dream. Why did porcelain dolls have to be the creepiest things in the world? And now some entity had to go and haunt my dreams as one. It was just my luck.

"I am getting really tired of her." I growled out, finally feeling myself calm down. These dreams were getting out of hand and now, knowing that the doll was somehow tied to our current case, it only made me more irritated by the riddles.

"What happened in this dream, Mai?" Naru asked. I doubted I had screamed from the nightmare, considering the others weren't in base yet. I actually felt a little better about that. I really didn't want to be fawned over at the moment.

"We were in a kitchen. It was daytime and the doll was sitting on a counter across from me. I was sitting at an island counter." I paused, replaying the dream, not wanting to miss any important detail. "She said 'I told you.' I said I already knew about the tea. She asked if I remembered the silver key. It was sitting around her neck. I asked her why she kept up with the riddles instead of just telling me outright what she was trying to say." I felt a shiver go down my spine at the memory of her glaring at me. "She got mad and jumped over the counters to stand in front of me. Then, while chanting her stupid saying of 'With the silver key, there's too much honey in the tea' she stabbed out my eyes. But before I could feel her engulf me, she said 'And now you can't see.'"

There was silence as Lin finished typing it all out on the laptop. I glanced at the time on there and realized it was a little past midnight. I hadn't been asleep but maybe an hour to an hour and a half. I couldn't help but wonder what had made them wake me. Usually when I had dreams, they let me see them through to the end without attempting to wake me up from them. I must have been moving too much in my sleep or saying something. I looked to find Naru looking concentrated. This case was a bit odd considering the fact I usually didn't have multiple dreams with a damned doll in them. Suddenly something occurred to me.

"What if the doll is playing out a scene for me?" Naru looked up at me, waiting for me to continue. Lin paused in his typing. "If she is somehow connected to this case, what if she is trying to play out what happened to Mikazuki? Though, why would she take on the form of a doll to portray this to me?" The two men shrugged their shoulders, unsure of the answer to my questions. But it was something to ponder.

"May I see her room?" I asked and Naru nodded his head, clearly other thoughts on his mind. I stood, knowing Koujo would follow me. Quietly we headed downstairs and to the young girl's room. I felt a little nervous as Lin opened the door but relaxed when the room revealed just a normal girl's room. She had some dolls here and there and a couple of drawings up on her walls. The walls were painted a soft lavender and white. There were princess dress-up clothes hanging in the closet and a couple of baby dolls on the floor. I went and sat on the bed, grabbing the plush horse that had been moving during the cleansings.

I could feel a sadness in the room. While it looked like a little girl had been in there just the other day, it smelled old and had such a deep sense of loss in it. I knew that the feeling didn't just come from Ayumi or Natsu but from Mikazuki herself. Somehow I could feel her sadness in the room and it tugged deeply at my heartstrings. If the doll really was trying to show me what happened to Mikazuki then I knew that she hadn't just gotten lost. Someone had killed her and that's why she couldn't move on. I could only hope the eye stabbing was for dramatic effect but I had a sickening feeling that it wasn't.

I couldn't take the feeling of the room anymore and was compelled to leave it. Koujo and I hadn't said anything to each other since coming in here but I didn't want to break that silence just yet. I needed to sort my thoughts on this case and the dream. I was lucky enough to have a boyfriend who understood that. So he followed me out of the room and into the hallway, where I stood staring at the family pictures on the wall. It was a bit more difficult to distinguish between pictures of Natsu when she was younger and pictures of Mikazuki around the same age. They looked quite a lot alike.

But I stared at one picture in particular of Natsu and Mikazuki. It was clearly a posed picture at a studio and it looked relatively recent, at least within the last year. Natsu looked a little bit different and Mikazuki looked just the same as the other recent pictures. The two looked so happy and joyful together and it made my heart ache for their loss of such a wonderfully bright little girl. But there was something about this picture that I couldn't quite place. As happy as the two of them were, something about it made my intuition scream at me. It gave me the same heart racing feeling as my nightmares did but I wasn't sure why.

"What is it, Mai?" Lin cautious voice asked behind me. He could tell how intent I was on this one particular picture.

"I'm not…Oh god." My stomach dropped as I finally pinpointed exactly what it was that made me feel so nervous. Around Mikazuki's neck sat the same necklace that the doll wore; the exact same one from my dreams, down to the tiniest detail.

"Mai, what is it?" Lin's voice was a little more worried and forceful, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Mikazuki is wearing the same necklace as the one from my dream." My voice shook a little as I continued to zero in on the key around her neck. It was simple but feminine; made of silver with three small diamonds at the top of the key and with only two and a half teeth at the bottom. But if the doll was trying to show me the scene of what happened to Mikazuki, why would the doll wear the necklace and not me?

The more I thought about it, the less it made sense. And suddenly I remembered one of my earlier nightmares. I had put the necklace around my neck in that dream. So the killer had stolen her necklace…but for what? A prize? I wasn't sure. There was still so much to Mikazuki's death that had been left out and we needed to figure it out. If she had run into that forest, it was easily plausible that a killer hid out there. It was near enough to the school that he could lure in young children who were walking home. And if he had seen her step father with her, he could have stepped back but left something to distract her with.

"I think we should investigate where Kagami Hiroto said she ran into the forest. I think it would help sort some things out." I turned away from the picture to look at Lin. He nodded his head at my suggestion and then reached out to grasp my hand, lacing his fingers with mine.

"That sounds like a good idea." He paused, giving me a worried look. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yes, I think I will. I think I am slowly figuring out what the doll has been trying to tell me." His grey eyes asked for more but I shook my head. "Let's head back to base so I can also share the idea with Naru. Three minds working together would certainly help things."

"Alright, but after that I think you ought to get some sleep." I laughed and nudged his side playfully.

"I could say the same for you, Koujo." He chuckled and we headed back to the base, hoping to figure out just what this case was all about.

**A/N:** Wow! I haven't written a chapter this long in a while. Well I like where I ended it and I figured I wouldn't just stop at a cliffhanger like I usually do with you guys. Hopefully you guys like this case and if you have figured out what is going on, please don't spoil the fun! You can send me a message with guesses if you really are curious to see if you are right! And if you end up being right about it by the end of this case, by all means boast! Well, until next time!


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